CLEVELAND — Mayor Justin M. Bibb's proposed budget for 2024 is out for the city of Cleveland. The number of budgeted police positions is down once again, prompting some concern among City Councilmembers.
To understand what we're talking about, let's go back to 2022. During that year the city budgeted for 1,640 officers, but never actually got there. In 2023, that number went down to 1,498 officers, an amount Police Chief Wayne Drummond says "was just impossible."
This year the mayor's office is proposing 1,350, still greater than the number of officers currently on the force.
"The 1,350 number is kind of where we landed in that we think it's an optimistic objective to reach for. but is not one that is overly optimistic," Ahmed Abonamah the city’s chief finance officer, told 3News. "So I think a takeaway is we're trying to be more realistic on how we're budgeting for staff, both in the division of police and throughout City Hall."
Abonamah says even though the number of positions is fewer, the overall proposed budget for the police department is up about 6% from last year. A spokesman for the mayor's office says Bibb proposed $231 million for the department, compared to $217 million last year.
Still, the proposed number of budgeted officers is a drop of 148 positions from last year. To be clear: These are vacant positions, so they're not proposing getting rid of any current officers. Right now, the department has just 1,175 sworn officers, well below any of the previous budgets.
"One of the complaints I get is that we just don't see enough officers," Drummond admitted. "We just don't see enough officers."
Drummond says the recent change from three 10-hour shifts to two 12-hour daily shifts will help more officers be patrolling at one time. He adds the drop from 1,498 to 1,350 would "not affect us operationally. We're still going to continue to do the things that we're doing."
But some argue the department needs to be doing more, and that more numbers would be the way to get there.
"Is 1,350 a reasonable amount?" Ward 8 Councilman Michael Polensek, chair of the Safety Committee, asked. "We're doing everything we can from the standpoint of technology, but there's no substitute — I want to say this again — there's no substitute for men and women in blue patrolling our streets."
Polensek told us he and Council President Blaine Griffin didn't learn about the proposed changes until a phone call not long before the budget was released Thursday.
"We're not even treading water; we're just losing. We're losing," Polensek said. "We've got to figure out a way, collectively, [to ask,] "How do we increase the number of people coming into the division of police?'"
WKYC spoke with Griffin directly, and he admitted having concerns with the mayor's office lowering its goals. When he first became Council president in January of 2022 (the same month Bibb's term began), he says a meeting took place regarding just how many officers the police division should have.
"When I first became Council president, I believe the budgeted number was about 1,614," Griffin recalled. "We were told then that the optimal number we really would need is approximately 1,700-something bodies."
Drummond notes they also have to account for how many people will leave the department. Last year, 165 left, and they had only 21 graduates join the division. However, the chief expects a much bigger class of cadets to start at the police academy next month.
Officer Andrew Gasiewski, the new president of the Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association, also doesn't think getting to even 1,350 is attainable this year.
"Those people they hire this year will not be on the streets until the end of this year or the beginning of next year, so it's just reality," he explained. "It's going to take a couple of years for this process to actually get more bodies on the streets, but that will be the fix. ... "We're in [a] personnel shortage, and personnel is what we need."
So far this year in the department, Gasiewski says 10 officers have retired, three have resigned, and one — Officer Victor Claudio — died while on duty.
City Council has about two months to discuss and make changes to the budget before the approved deadline of April 1.
"If we want Cleveland to be successful, Cleveland has to be safe and vibrant," Griffin declared.