Every mayoral candidate in San Francisco’s recent election — including Daniel Lurie — promised they would beef up the city’s flagging police ranks by hiring more cops.
Now, one potential solution being floated by some in the San Francisco Police Department is less training.
Assistant Chief David Lazar told the city’s Budget and Appropriations Committee Wednesday that shortening the academy from nine to six months could put more bodies on the streets faster.
Under the proposed plan, Lazar said the department would continue to train officers when they’re in the field but still on probation to make up for the missed three months.
“I’d rather have a uniformed officer on the street and get trained later on some things that aren’t critical,” said Lazar, who is set to retire in May.
A spokesperson for SFPD declined to provide more details on the proposal or what training would be cut if the program were shortened, saying that there isn’t an “official plan” in place to do so yet. “SFPD is always evaluating ways to get more officers on the street,” they said.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Other Bay Area police departments, like San Jose’s, have a six-month academy, as does the Los Angeles Police Department.
Still, the idea was not immediately received with open arms.
Supervisor Connie Chan said she’d rather have fewer quality officers than more with less training.
“I feel conflicted about shortening the training time,” Chan said during Wednesday’s meeting. “I would always think there should be more training for our police officers than less.”
The proposal comes after several years of declining numbers and an uphill battle to attract more applicants.
San Francisco’s police ranks are down more than 500, Lazar said, pointing to a recent staffing study. That lack of bodies is due in part to rising retirements and fewer new recruits applying and graduating from the academy.
Still, Lazar said the recruit pool is growing. Applications in 2021 tanked to 1,586, but by 2023, they rebounded to 3,008. Lazar said applications could approach 4,000 this year.
The department has done a number of things to help staunch the bleeding, from hiring retired officers to work part-time at the airport to hiring a public relations firm to better sell the idea of becoming a cop here to potential recruits. It also now offers a $5,000 signing bonus and six-figure starting pay.
But getting recruits through the academy to become full-time officers is another hurdle, as the smaller pool of cadets has impacted graduation rates. On Jan. 6, only 12 cadets graduated from a class that started out with 41 recruits.
The next class looks to have a better graduation rate. Class 281 began with 55 in September and is expected to have roughly 30 graduates in May, according to sources with knowledge of the academy.
“We’re pretty excited about being able to ramp up staffing,” Lazar said. “The future is bright.”