Despite raises, police officer vacancies are on the rise at Durham Police Department

The Durham City Council gave police officers a big pay boost this year, yet WRAL Investigates found that has not helped with officer recruiting. In fact, since City Council approved that raise, the numbers are moving in the wrong direction.

Those who backed the raises said more money would help recruit and retain officers, but data from the Durham Police Department showed vacancies numbers continued to climb from November 2021 to April 2022.

Yet a former Durham Police leader said there are still some encouraging signs.

"We didn't get here overnight, and we won't get out overnight," said Larry Smith, the spokesman for the Durham Fraternal Order of Police and a former interim chief for DPD.

Durham police join national movement to add more women to force

In November, there were 75 officer vacancies. As of Tuesday, there are now 102 officer vacancies — meaning 19 percent of total officer positions are vacant. Among central North Carolina police agencies, Durham has the second-highest vacancy rate. Only Carrboro has more with 23 percent of positions vacant.

"That's definitely a problem," said Smith.

But Smith said the numbers don't surprise him.

"It's going to take a while because it takes nine months from the time you hire a person to put them in a police car by themselves — nine months," he said.

Roxboro was the only local department whose police chief said there were zero vacancies.

Durham police chief to join on ride-alongs to ease burden on short-staffed officers

"I am certain your research for this story is revealing a staggering number of vacancies everywhere," said Creedmoor Police Chief Keith King. "As police administrators, we are all recruiting from what seems to be a dwindling pool of qualified applicants."

However, Smith said there is a good narrative that the numbers don't show.

"The main thing that appears to have slowed, which is important, is the number of Durham officers going to other agencies," he said.

Smith said in the past, many officers were leaving for higher-paying jobs at other departments.

Staffing crisis means Durham police officers sometimes told not to enforce laws

"I think, when I've spoken to the officers and they got [a raise,] they were really pleased with it," said Smith.

Now though, he said, officers are simply retiring. Smith believes the numbers will rebound.

"It's going to take a while to play catch up," he said.