Jul. 29—With 23 new hires since the beginning of 2022 and 14 of those expected to be fully trained by this fall, the Joplin Police Department appears to be making some headway in addressing the officer shortage that has plagued the city in recent years.
Joplin voters' passage of a use tax proposition this spring is providing the funds to pay for three additional officers, bringing the total number of the city's sworn officer positions to 113.
There were just 86 trained officers actually available for duty at the start of July, with 10 of the 113 authorized positions still open and 17 officers either in the process of gaining certification and training or in some other nonactive status.
Acting Chief Brian Lewis believes the prospects for reaching full or near-full staffing have been improving.
"We're hoping a year from now we'll be in a lot better position in terms of staffing as an agency," Lewis said.
The city continues to see fewer applicants than in years past, he said. But most of those they have hired in the past year and a half should qualify for active duty at some point this year.
The city puts new officer hires through certification at the Missouri Southern State University law enforcement academy prior to seven weeks of internal training and 16 weeks of field training.
Five of the new hires just finished their training and another is close, Lewis said. Eight others who graduated in May will begin 16 weeks of field training in mid-to-late July and should be ready for duty by sometime this fall.
Just five of the hires had any prior post-certification experience in policing, although Joplin's percentage of lateral applicants — officers with post-certification experience at other law enforcement agencies — has been holding fairly steady, Lewis said.
The Joplin department is organized under four bureaus: uniform operations, investigations, professional standards, and support services, with the bulk of authorized positions in investigations and uniform operations, which includes patrol, traffic, K-9, DWI enforcement, SWAT team, bailiff and reserve officer units.
The effect of the decline in applicants in recent years is still being felt in the department. There are currently just 54 officers available for the 66 positions in uniform operations and just 17 for the 25 positions in investigations.
Lewis said the officer shortage the city has been experiencing has affected the department's self-initiated police activities the most, with proactive police measures often having to give way to reactive efforts in response to calls for service. Consequently, the number of car stops and pedestrian checks the department has been able to conduct has been down in recent years.