After years of struggling to hire more police officers, Stockton’s top cop says the department is finally winning the battle.
The city currently has 380 officers, including 60 hired since the start of the year, Police Chief Stanley McFadden told the City Council at Tuesday night’s meeting. That’s the most new hires the force has had since 2018.
He cited higher pay, policy improvements, additional training and the reauthorization of Measure A, which increased the sales tax by 3/4 of a cent to support city services.
McFadden’s positive assessment of the department’s recruiting and retention efforts marks a turnaround from a year ago, when the council pondered whether to reauthorize Measure A.
In September 2023, City Manager Harry Black wrote in Stocktonia that the number of police officers per 100,000 residents had fallen to its lowest level since 1991. Council members openly fretted that officers were quitting to join other departments.
Black said the city also had been stymied by some of the same factors that have bedeviled other departments when it comes to recruitment, such as the anti-police sentiment following the killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis in 2020 and a general decline of interest in law enforcement careers.
On Tuesday, however, McFadden said the department now has a recruiting staff that includes four officers. The city has advertised for recruits on the internet and social media. It has done outreach to try to lure service members leaving the military as well as athletes.
“Athletes make incredible officers,” McFadden said.
When he was sworn in as chief nearly two and half years ago, McFadden said he knew the shrinking roster of the Police Department was a top concern. At the time, he said the department had 406 officers, but was budgeted for 485.
And while the ranks are lower today than when McFadden took over, he is optimistic about the progress being made. With the additional staffing, the department has been able to augment the force of motorcycle officers and create a regional boating unit that patrols Stockton’s rivers and waterways, he told councilmembers, who were enthusiastic after hearing McFadden’s report.
“You have uplifted the department in many ways,” Councilmember Michele Padilla told the chief.