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Appropriation Adjustment to Fund Authorized Police Officers <br />December 17, 2019 <br />Page 2 <br />positions, for a total of 366 sworn officers (all ranks), in order to continue to fulfill the City Council <br />and community's police officer hiring mission. With 366 sworn officers, Santa Ana would be at 1.1 <br />sworn officers per 1,000 residents, and will be better equipped to successfully address these <br />community and City Council priorities. <br />Since July 2014, the Public Safety, Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Empowerment Council <br />Committee has requested regular recurring updates on Police Officer Hiring to stay apprised of the <br />City's progress towards filling all police officer vacancies. The Police Department has provided <br />regular reports on its hiring efforts, and the number of sworn officers hired and separated by <br />calendar year. In 2019, the Department has also included this information as a component in a <br />monthly performance metric report to the Council. <br />In response to the direction set by the City Council, the Police Department established a goal of <br />hiring 50 police officers in calendar 2019 by December 31, 2019. Calendar year 2019 is projected <br />to be the best year for police officer hiring in at least the past 20 years, based on available City and <br />Police Department Human Resources Division data. Through the tremendous efforts of the Police <br />Department's Human Resources Division and the City's Human Resources Agency, the Police <br />Department has hired 40 police officers in 2019 and is projecting to hire its goal of up to 50 by the <br />end of the calendar year. The number of sworn officers has increased from 302 sworn officers in <br />July 2014 to 348 sworn officers by the end of November 2019. <br />In support of Police Department hiring goals, the City Council has provided the resources <br />necessary to enhance the Police Department Human Resources and Backgrounds units to <br />effectively attract and efficiently process police officer applicants, including: <br />One full-time Recruitment Corporal <br />assigned to Backgrounds unit <br />One additional professional <br />Background Investigator position added <br />to FY 18/19 budget <br />Two additional sworn Investigators <br />assigned to the Backgrounds Unit <br />Two contracts with outside background <br />investigation firms implemented <br />Monthly physical agility testing <br />Implementation of a-Soph backgrounds <br />unit software <br />Enhanced social media outreach <br />promoting the Police Department and <br />police officer recruitment events <br />Implementation of Hiring Expos at the <br />Santa Ana Police Department <br />Improved efficiencies in the Police <br />Department HR and Backgrounds Units <br />to speed up applicant processing <br />On-line testing <br />For the past two years, there have been 36 unfunded police officer positions in the Police <br />Department. This fiscal year, the Police Department has 348 funded and 36 unfunded sworn <br />positions, for a total of 384 sworn officers. The Police Department ran out of funded police officer <br />positions at the end of November 2019. The Police Department is requesting funding in the <br />amount of $1,312,500 to fund 18 of the 36 unfunded positions through the end of the 2019-20 fiscal <br />20A-2 <br />