Small Business Funding

Milwaukee police push to recruit new officers with 2025 budget [Video]
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Milwaukee police push to recruit new officers with 2025 budget [Video]

As Milwaukee city leaders put the finishing touches on the roughly $2 billion budget for 2025, the police department is at top of mind.On Thursday, the Common Council Public Safety & Health Committee heard from the Director of the Fire & Police Commission about efforts to boost numbers.”I think, as everybody knows, it is a difficult, challenging environment nationwide to recruit police officers,” FPC Director Leon Todd said.Common Council recently approved its 2025 budget, which includes more than $314 million for the Milwaukee Police Department.This allows for three police academy classes with 65 recruits each. Unfortunately, with the same goals this year, recruiting fell short.”The class that started in March started with 46 recruits, graduated 37. The class that started in August started with 33, down to 30 now. The December class will be between 26-28,” Todd said.This means MPD will likely only graduate 95 officers out of the 195 goal for 2024.Mayor Cavalier Johnson said it must improve for 2025.”The desire of people in Milwaukee is to work to make sure we have a fully staffed police department,” he said.He believes challenges in recruitment stem partly from the summer of 2020.”The unfortunate incident where a law enforcement officer killed George Floyd in Minneapolis, and there have been ripple effects from that,” he said.The starting salary for a Milwaukee police officer is $47,673.69, then increases to $63,564.75 after graduation from the academy.If MPD doesn’t hire more officers, the city could lose tens of millions of dollars, thanks to a 2023 state law.Alderwoman Milele Coggs sounded the alarm.”Whatever HR professional that maybe has done this somewhere else in this country, or that specifies in police recruitment, or that can help us not lose $37 million, that’s who we need to hire, like yesterday,” she said.The stakes could not be higher, with public safety and state funding on the line.Two aldermen proposed amendments to the budget, including $70,000 for a social media recruitment consultant and $15,000 for employee referral bonuses.In a statement to WISN 12, MPD said:”The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) appreciates the efforts of all our elected officials that worked on the 2025 Budget. MPD is committed to providing the best services with the resources we are afforded. MPD continues to work with our community to build sustainable healthy neighborhoods, free of crime and maintained by positive relationships.”

KCMO seeks outside help for public safety [Video]
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Small Business Funding

KCMO seeks outside help for public safety [Video]

There is an ongoing effort to seek assistance from outside law enforcement agencies for the Kansas City Police Department as KCPD works to add officers.Mayor Quinton Lucas said he spoke last week with Missouri Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe about public safety.A spokeswoman for Kehoe confirmed the two spoke after the election, with public safety among the topics discussed.Lucas said he is also in ongoing discussions with Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte about having deputies add shifts in Kansas City.We need more law enforcement to, I think, enhance our patrols, and we will do everything possible, Lucas said. We’ve seen in other jurisdictions where highway patrol and city collaborations have led to the seizures of more vehicles that have been stolen. They have led to more arrests. And so, we want to make sure in Kansas City we take the opportunity to do that as well.Forte confirmed there have been discussions about the city hiring deputies in an off-duty capacity to support KCPD in various areas of Kansas City.In July, DVA Percent owner Roman Khachaturyan said burglars used a stolen car to ram through the front of his business.Westport stolen car crashes into storefront in Kansas City.He said he has spent about $30,000 on replacing windows from that incident, other vandalism, and adding steel bars to the windows and front door.Unless we get real security and maybe someone in charge of overnight security, its not going to stop because, quite literally, you dont get in trouble. If I was, say, homeless or didnt want to get a job and could commit crime, and I knew Id get away with it, the odds are thats probably what Id be doing, Khachaturyan said.Lucas said the city will need to go through the budgetary process in February.His goal is to have outside help for KCPD by spring.I want to make sure that by Memorial Day, by the springtime, were in a position to say we have more people deployed in busy entertainment districts and on busy city streets in the summer months to address all the issues we need to, Lucas said.On Thursday, two KCPD officers were walking near where several burglaries in the River Market area have occurred in recent months.Betty Rae’s suspect arrested after felony property crime in Kansas City.Some businesses have hired their own security.In September, Lucas unveiled the citys Back to Business Fund to help small businesses recover from burglaries.Khachaturyan is one of more than 100 business owners who have applied for funding.I can guarantee you Im showing receipts. They want your receipts. They make you jump through all these hoops: do this, do that, he said.A spokeswoman for the mayor said no disbursements from the fund have been issued yet, but they will be soon.