LTC 376-2025 Police Department Achieves Full Staffing by End of September 2025MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
LTC #376-2025 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
Honorable Mayor Steven Meiner and Members of t e City Commission
Eric Carpenter, City Manager �
September 11, 2025
SUBJECT: Police Department Achieves Full Staffing by End of September 2025
The purpose of this Letter to the Commission (L TC) is to provide the Mayor and the City
Commission with an update on the Miami Beach Police Department's current and projected
vacancy rates.
Over recent years, the Department has actively sought more avenues for durable police officer
recruitment and retention. In particular, the Department has prioritized offering competitive
compensation packages, including attractive starting salaries and hiring bonuses.
Concurrently, it has engaged in aggressive, targeted, and innovative recruitment campaigns,
streamlined the background investigation process to improve efficiency, enhanced its outreach
through social media platforms, and adopted more rigorous candidate selection criteria. It also
increased college and university activations, pursued a greater number of qualified female
candidates, and enhanced its training facilities. Anecdotally, the Department has raised
employment standards by emphasizing candidates with stable and progressive work histories,
including prior military or law enforcement experience. This shift has produced a candidate
pool that is more qualified and more likely to remain with the Department long-term.
Looking at available regional 2024 data, the Miami Beach Police Department, while growing
its ranks markedly over the past three (3) years, has a vacancy rate far below that of similar
departments. Comparable agencies like the North Miami Beach Police Department and the
Coral Gables Police Department hold vacancy rates at approximately 11 % and 14 %
respectively. Even with a higher number of retirements, the Department's vacancy rate has
continually and steadily decreased over the last five years from 7.3% due to the quality and
aggressiveness of the Department's hiring campaign.
2024
2025 -April
2025 -August
2025 -September Projected
32
16
8
0
405
421
429
437
7.3%
3.6%
1.8%
0.0%
437
437
437
437
It stands to highlight that the Miami Beach Police Department is forecasted to be staffed at an
unprecedented 100% with all 437 budgeted positions by the end of September 2025.
The Department's declining vacancy rate is the direct result of a deliberate, strategic and
multifaceted approach implemented in response to an aging workforce and evolving national
trends in law enforcement recruitment. Under Chief Jones' leadership, these efforts have led
to a more substantial, more committed applicant pool, reduced turnover, and a projected zero
vacancy rate.
WJ/cmrp �-