police

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For about 10 years, there has been debate about the optimal size of the Memphis Police Department and recommendations in various studies have suggested fewer police and more police, understanding that there is no clear correlation between the size of cities’ police forces and their crime rates.

Today, there are 1,981 officers on the Memphis Police Department and it had 2,452 officers in late 2011.

There is general agreement these days that Memphis Police Department is several hundred officers too low, and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has set his goal for an increase in police officers MPD at 400.

The average number of police officers per 10,000 population for cities with more than 500,000 people is 23.7.   The Memphis rate today is 31.0, which is lower than cities like Baltimore, St. Louis, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Detroit.

Generally, larger cities have more police officers than smaller and medium-sized cities.  On average, cities with populations of at least 50,000 average 15.9; 16.1 for cities with populations between 100,000 and 200,000; and 18.6 for cities with populations between 200,000 and 500,000.

Officers Per 10,000 Population

56.9 – Washington, D.C.

42.6 – Baltimore

41.4 – New York City

40.9 – Philadelphia

39.5 – Birmingham

38.8 – St. Louis

38.3 – Atlanta

36.8 – Newark

34.0 – Rochester, NY

33.5 – Detroit

33.2 – Richmond

33.1 – Charleston, SC

32.2 – Boston

31.7 – Jackson, TN

31.4 – Milwaukee

31.0 – Memphis

28.7 – Kansas City

28.4 – Pittsburgh

28.1 – Buffalo

26.8 – Little Rock

26.8 – Dallas

26.3 – Tampa

26.0 – Orlando

25.9 – San Francisco

25.9 – Miami

24.9 – Los Angeles

24.7 – Chattanooga

22.8 – Houston

21.5 – Denver

21.4 – Knoxville

21.3 – Nashville

21.0 – Charlotte

20.9 – Las Vegas

20.1 – Minneapolis

19.8 – Bartlett

19.2 – Tulsa

18.5 – Jacksonville

18.2 – Louisville

17.9 – Murfreesboro

17.8 – Phoenix

17.5 – Oakland

17.1 – Oklahoma City

17.0 – Raleigh

Total Police Department Employee Count:

50,366 – New York

12,665 – Los Angeles

7,229 – Philadelphia

6,577 – Houston

4,825 – Las Vegas

4,487 – Washington, D.C.

4,040 – Dallas

3,698 – Phoenix

2,973 – Jacksonville

2,960 – Baltimore­­­­

2,711 – San Francisco

2,689 – Boston

2,518 – Milwaukee

2,436 – Detroit

2,389 – Memphis

2,329 – Charlotte

2,218 – Atlanta

1,824 – Kansas City

1,776 – Indianapolis

1,757 – St. Louis

1,742 – Nashville

1,735 – Denver

1,459 – Miami

1,362 – Oklahoma City

1,230 – St. Louis

1,222 – Tampa

1,102 – Birmingham

1,014 – Minneapolis

948 – Pittsburgh

903 – Orlando

539 – Chattanooga

491 – Knoxville

Source: Governing magazine’s calculations of 2015 FBI UCR Data. 

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