Montgomery County officials warn of 2025 sworn-staff losses tied to pension change; department outlines recruitment, redeployment and tech plans

Montgomery County officials told the County Council’s public safety work session on Dec. 2 that the police department expects a potentially large departure of sworn officers beginning in January 2025 tied to an enhanced pension benefit multiplier, and outlined a set of short- and medium-term actions to maintain patrol coverage.

The session, which required no vote, featured a staff briefing by Susan Farag and presentations from Chief Mark Yamada and Assistant Chief Darren Frank. Farag said the department’s filled sworn ranks have increased modestly — “They’re up from 1,101 in March to 1,112 now” — but cautioned the authorized sworn complement is 1,278 and the overall vacancy rate is about 13 percent. Patrol vacancies are higher, she said, at about 17.3 percent, reducing available patrol strength to roughly 77 percent on paper.

Why it matters: County leaders said staffing levels affect response times, proactive policing and officer wellness. Farag told the council that since 2019 priority-call response times have lengthened by about 41 seconds and routine calls by about 53 seconds, while the department’s overtime spending has sharply increased.

“The approved FY25 department-wide overtime budget was 11,600,000,” Farag said. “But the department overspent that by 8,200,000 or 86%.”

What the department will do: Chief Mark Yamada described a multi-pronged approach focused on recruitment, retention and temporary redeployment. He highlighted efforts to improve internal communication, bolster officer wellness and work with union partners. Yamada said the department is exploring a pilot to redraw district boundaries in the 3rd and 4th districts to equalize workloads, and is considering assigning an executive officer to oversee countywide staffing and callback coordination.

Assistant Chief Darren Frank said the department has internal tools for patrol workload analysis and has engaged PFM Consulting to perform a narrower Investigative Services Bureau (ISB) workload study, which the department said will cost $338,000 with delivery due by June 2025. Frank said a full department-wide workload study would exceed available funding (the department estimated more than $400,000). “We have been positioning ourselves to do [workload analysis] every six months,” Frank said, describing the analysis as essential to guiding where new recruits should be assigned.

Technology and operational shifts: Officials emphasized technology and alternate response models as ways to extend limited sworn capacity. Presenters described the drone-as-first-responder pilot and the real-time information center (live 911) as tools to verify calls and reduce unnecessary lights-and-sirens responses; the department does not count drone arrival as officer-on-scene time for response-time metrics. Commander Jason Kokinos said the late-night safety ordinance has helped stabilize midnight staffing in core districts, though it has not freed officers broadly for reassignment.

Staff also reported the Telephone Reporting Unit (TRUE) has returned to COVID-era volumes and said more call types may be routed to TRUE to reduce officer workload.

Pay and retention issues: Council members pressed the department on wage compression and competitiveness. Frank acknowledged that in some circumstances a sergeant on patrol may earn more than a newly promoted lieutenant because of overtime and callback pay. Officials said collective bargaining, a regional salary survey and executive-branch pay reviews are under discussion as possible remedies.

Investigative backlog and evidence handling: Frank and others highlighted growing workloads in electronic evidence and investigative units. The department said limited investigative capacity could force difficult choices about which follow-up investigations receive resources. The county and the state’s attorney’s office have formed a work group to streamline evidence transfer and to explore funding requests.

Community input and next steps: The department plans to refresh patrol analyses this spring and asked the council for continued partnership on budget and policy steps. Staff said they will expand resident feedback efforts (Nextdoor surveys, MOCO Connect) and are exploring CAD-linked surveys of callers to improve representativeness. The PFM ISB workload report is due by June 2025, and department leaders said they expect recruitment, academy scheduling changes and other measures to take months to materially affect sworn strength.

No formal action was taken at the session; council members and department leaders agreed to return with more detailed patrol analysis and budget implications prior to the next budget cycle.