By Adam Pagnucco.
Violent crime and property crime have increased in recent years. At the same time, County Executive Marc Elrich is asking residents to pay a ten percent property tax increase so he can boost spending across the government. Given those facts, it’s reasonable to ask whether he intends to hire more cops. It seems we could use them, right?
Let’s look at Elrich’s FY24 recommended police department budget.
Overall, Elrich is recommending a police budget of $317.5 million, up from $296.5 million in FY23 and a 7.1% increase. That’s pretty close to the all-agency increase of 7.7%. A lot of that increase is in compensation as we will explain below. Full-time equivalent positions (FTEs) are recommended to grow from 1,897.9 in FY23 to 1,907.1 in FY24, an increase of 9.2 FTEs. So that means there will be more cops, yeah?
Not so fast. Let’s look at the offices and bureaus inside the department.
This bureau is responsible for community engagement, policy and planning. It’s adding 9.0 FTEs without elaborating on their nature. Additionally, they are not listed as having a service impact. So this addition does not look like cops on the street.
This bureau “provides specialized services in several essential service delivery functions for safely and effectively executing routine and complex field operations.” Among these services are traffic operations, special operations and security services. Elrich’s budget adds two crossing guards for 1.2 FTEs but subtracts 3 other FTEs for a net reduction of 1.8.
This bureau “is the primary investigative branch for serious and violent crime in Montgomery County.” It includes criminal investigations, major crimes, special investigations, special victims investigations and forensic science evidence management. Elrich’s budget adds 4.5 FTEs but does not specify what they are. They are not listed as having a service impact.
This bureau “provides essential administrative and management support services to the Department and technical support to police operations through various types of technology, analysis, education, training, and maintenance of active and historical records and warrants.” It’s adding six public safety instructors for firearm training, one program manager for officer wellness and one civilian curriculum developer. It is losing one unspecified FTE for a net gain of 7 FTEs.
Office of the Chief
This office “has responsibility for the overall management, direction, planning, and coordination of all MCPD programs and operations” and includes the Internal Affairs Division, the Professional Accountability Division and the Public Information Office. It is losing one unspecified FTE.
This is the largest bureau in the police department and it “provides direct police patrol services to the public through the six District Stations.” This bureau is losing 8.5 FTEs with no elaboration in the budget on what their specific roles are. Does this mean reduced police patrols?
The above changes add up to a net gain of 9.2 FTEs, or 0.5% of police department staffing. If there is any gain in sworn officers, it’s slight and the decline in patrol FTEs is worrisome.
Roughly two-thirds of the police department’s funding boost goes towards a substantial compensation increase worth $14.5 million. Officers will get two general wage adjustments totaling a combined 7.0% and a lump sum of $1,500. Roughly half of officers will get an additional 3.5% step increase or an additional 3.5% longevity payment. Combined with the recently announced $20,000 bonus for recruits, this should help the department attract and retain officers.
But aside from compensation, this is largely a same-services budget. Is this adequate for dealing with rising crime? And what good will the county’s proposal to open a new station in Downtown Silver Spring do if there are no new officers to staff it?
I await the county council’s staff report on the police budget.