Officer shortage part of slower 911 police response times in Charlotte, officials say

One phrase is becoming increasingly common to hear on Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers’ radios.

The phrase “no units are available” is heard so often it is similar to when officers use the phrase 10-4, or “OK,” says Fraternal Order of Police President Daniel Redford.

“No units are available” is another way of saying 911 dispatch cannot send police officers right away, either to respond to a call or when officers call for backup or assistance at a crime scene.

At a recent Charlotte City Council meeting, Redford, who is also a CMPD officer, said he hears this phrase on the radio and from other officers nearly daily.

“It’s becoming so frequent that it’s almost a joke to us to hear. It gets sad, because it’s so frequent,” Redford told The Charlotte Observer in an interview this week.

A current staff shortage of 300 police officers may be contributing to longer response times to lower priority incidents, Redford said.

CMPD this week did not respond to questions from the Observer about police response times or how often the department is faced with not having enough officers on duty to provide backup or immediate response to 911 calls.

However, statements and data provided previously by the department make clear officers are responding to more 911 calls with fewer officers.

Charlotte is the eighth fastest growing city in the U.S., according to the American Growth Project. The city is estimated to have approximately 874,579 residents as of the 2020 census and this number does not include those in surrounding towns and cities who commute to Charlotte.

From Nov. 2021-Oct. 2022 there were 977,162 911 calls — nearly a 2% increase from the year before, according to data from CMPD.

Efforts by the city to recruit and retain officers have been in the works for years, and have increased in intensity most recently, with added sign on bonuses, a relaxed grooming standard, and efforts to recruit more military veterans and women.

In 2019 CMPD officials said it is facing the consequence of an early 1990s hiring boom. Dozens of officers will be eligible to retire in the next couple of years, including a large chunk of the department’s command staff, the Observer previously reported.

In 2022, the city of Charlotte reported in its budget that pay for officers increased approximately 20% over the past four years. Despite this, the number of officer vacancies has nearly tripled.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, Deputy Chief David Robinson responded to a question from Councilman Ed Driggs about whether ongoing officer vacancies are affecting police response times. Without giving specifics, Robinson answered: “I’m not going to sugar coat it. Our response times are not where we want them to be. We are experiencing challenges with them.”

He said the issue is caused not just by staffing shortages but other factors like the lengthy wait officers face when processing arrests at the jail.

Police staffing shortages

Recruitment and retention are one of CMPD’s top priorities for 2023, Chief Johnny Jennings said in January at a news conference to discuss crime stats and department performance.

“If we can’t get more people in the seats for recruiting and hiring at a more progressive rate, then we really are going to have to take a serious look at what can we stop doing and how can we be as efficient as possible with the people that we have,” Jennings said.

Jennings said this year and next will be the peak of officer retirements.

Over the last year, CMPD has had nearly as many officers resign as it has had retire.

Last year, 72 officers resigned and 88 retired. Next year, an additional 91 employees will be eligible to retire, Robinson told City Council members earlier this week.

Later in the meeting, Redford emphasized that Charlotte’s police recruitment efforts are not keeping pace with the city’s population growth.

“CMPD is hundreds of officers short, and the growth that we have seen in this city is making it more difficult for the officers that we have to manage as more and more events are brought into this city as well as the calls that are continuously coming in,” Redford said.

Redford says the city and department need to do more to incentivize recruits and retain officers. He says other cities are offering more benefits and pay increases than Charlotte.

“While we’re appreciative of the efforts that the city has done in improving the pay and benefits that they have, it just unfortunately, has not been enough,” Redford said. “And when we are seeing what other cities are doing to attract officers and doing significant pay increases, we want to ensure that Charlotte is able to continue to compete.”