Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
City safety director outlines staffing gains, council presses on retention and diversity
Summary
Director Wayne Drummond told the Safety Committee that fire is slightly over budgeted headcount and police and EMS are rebuilding after departures; council members pressed for disqualifier data, workload analyses and clearer recruitment steps to boost diversity in fire and police ranks.
The Cleveland Safety Committee heard a detailed staffing update from Director of Public Safety Wayne Drummond, who said city fire staffing stands slightly above the approved uniform strength while police and EMS continue active recruitment to recover losses from departures.
Drummond said the Division of Fire’s approved uniform strength is 757 and current uniform strength is 763. For the Division of Police he reported a budgeted strength (including recruits) of 1,338 and a current uniform strength of 1,256, noting the department added 111 officers to street duty in 2025 from academy classes and reinstatements while recording 86 departures in 2025. EMS is budgeted for 315 staff, currently reports 280 on payroll with 26…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
