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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 cadets in training that will increase the count to about 306 when they graduate.
Council members used the public staff briefing to press for more detail. Several members raised concerns about diversity in fire academy graduates and alleged inconsistent application of psychological-evaluation rules. Councilman (first ward) Jones described a case in which an African American applicant who failed a psychological evaluation was required to pay for a second evaluation to be seated in a class, while a white candidate in a similar situation was later seated; he asked the administration to provide the exact disqualifiers used in fire and police hiring.
Drummond acknowledged a diversity shortfall among qualified candidates in some fire classes and agreed to provide the disqualifier list and demographic breakouts to the council. "We can get that information for you," he said. Council members asked that Vanguard (the recruitment team) and community recruiters appear at a future meeting to explain recruitment outreach and candidate pipelines.
Committee members also discussed workload-based analyses and police-per-population ratios. Councilwoman House Jones noted that, when adjusted for population decline since 1970, the current police-per-resident ratio is similar to past highs and asked for workload analyses for police, fire and EMS so resource allocation can be reviewed on that basis.
The committee additionally discussed assaults on EMS staff; assistant director Jason Schachner said union-provided counts showed six assaults in 2023, 10 in 2024 and 12 in 2025, and the administration agreed to provide official figures and exit-interview data for departures. Members asked for timelines to reduce attrition and for data showing whether salary improvements have stemmed turnover; Drummond said recent contracts moved Cleveland’s police salaries into the top third statewide and that salary increases had helped bring officers back to the division.
Council members said staffing information will inform budget hearings and requested updated reports on minority hires, disqualifiers, attrition reasons and projected hiring timelines ahead of the next appropriation cycle.
