The Madison Police Department (MPD) has seen a significant drop in the number of people applying to be a police officer over the past decade, even as the city has grown and MPD ranks have increased, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The news comes amid a nationwide recruitment and retention crisis.
The number of applicants for officer positions hasn’t exceeded 1,000 in a single year since 2013, which saw 1,018 applicants; MPD received only 227 in 2023. Those years’ corresponding numbers for new hires, however, remained much closer, at 40 in 2013 and 45 in 2023.
Sworn officers within the department have steadily increased each year over the last decade, coming in between 449–492, with a small dip during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new crop of recruits will undergo 1,000 hours of MPD police academy training this May. Academy recruits are considered MPD employees and enter field training post-graduation. Forty-one members of the 2023 class were part of the full pre-service academy, and four were lateral participants who completed an accelerated academy after prior law enforcement experience.
