Woodfin is asking for $15.8 million to strengthen Birmingham's police force. Here's what's included in the proposal

By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin on Tuesday proposed a $15.8 million plan to recruit and retain officers for the Birmingham Police Department. He told the City Council the move was “necessary” given the growing number of murders in the city, including a recent mass shooting in Five Points South that left four people dead and 17 others injured.

Many have questioned whether the BPD's lack of staffing is contributing to the higher number of homicides that have threatened to reach records in the city. Birmingham City Council President Darryl O'Quinn previously said the city had lost nearly 300 officers. In August, wbhm.org reported that Birmingham Police had 250 fewer officers than its budget. As recently as June, the department had lost 320 officers, and by some estimates that's about half of a fully staffed BPD, the website reported.

Woodfin said Tuesday: “There are a lot of numbers that are just wrong.” Ideally, the city would have 851 sworn officers, 440 of whom would be available for patrol duties, the mayor said. There are currently 377 officers available to patrol, Woodfin said. “We are only short of 63 patrol officers.”

But for the city to be the best version of itself, “we need Birmingham police officers, not just new recruits,” he told the city council.

His nearly $16 million plan — using money from the city's general reserve fund, which stood at $290 million as of June 23, 2023 — would increase the city's hiring bonus for new officers from $5,000 to $10,000 and Offering $5,000 in bonuses to help officers relocate to Birmingham.

(Woodin said the $16 million would not be returned).

To attract and retain more officers, he proposed spending $4.5 million on a take-home program, with the money used to purchase 75 patrol cars; 50 for initiating the program and 25 for maintaining the current fleet.

He proposed increasing signing bonuses for new recruits to $10,000 from the current $5,000. He also proposed a retention bonus of $10,000 per year to keep officers in the department.

The proposal includes $600,000 for media marketing and a recruiting campaign and $200,000 for consultant recruitment.

It calls for a new policy of eight hours of leave per month for mental health monitoring, which would be taken as an additional day of leave.

The proposal includes nearly $1.2 million for a part-time reserve officer program and $561,600 for a police intern program that allows for immediate hiring of future police officers to begin preparing for the academy.

The plan calls for spending $100,000 to pay relocation assistance to 20 foreign candidates per year so they can move to Birmingham. It includes a $1,000 referral incentive for recommending future police officers.

The price might be a little shocking, he told the city council, “but you all asked me to do something.”

Addressing the problem will be done uniformly, said Councilwoman LaTonya Tate, chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee. “My point is not to point fingers as to how we got here, but I know Birmingham is a resilient and beautiful city,” she said. “We are committed to giving our law enforcement officers the tools they need to be successful here and help Birmingham reach its full potential.”

It was unclear whether the plan would be presented to the full council at next week's Oct. 8 meeting.