The Tampa City Council heard the latest crime and staffing statistics from its police department during a Thursday workshop.
And while some law enforcement officials say they're nearing an adequate number of cops, others believe more officers are still needed.
Tampa Police Chief Lee Barcaw said currently, the department has 984 officers, with a less than 5% vacancy rate. He said another 31 officers will be hired on in March, leaving just 14 vacancies total.
He says right now, that’s close to the peak amount of officers the department has had historically.
“So we are moving in the right direction as far as filling our vacancies,” Barcaw said. “This number does not take into account the 123 reserve officers that we have.
But Brandon Barclay, the president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, says the current standard for full police department doesn't take into account the amount of growth the city has seen in recent decades.
"If you even go back 10 years, to 2012, what downtown Tampa look like versus what it looks like today, you have the same number of cops working in those areas,” Barclay said. “That's the problem."
Barclay said he’d ask for 200 more officers if given the option.
Some city council members said they'd be interested in giving the department more money if needed to hire additional officers to meet population growth, but they’d like to first see how that’d work with the city’s budget and needs.
While Barcaw didn’t disagree, he said he’d need time to evaluate his current police force, and figure out where he could fill holes with additional officers.
“If there's 200 cops right now, if you were to give them to me, I wouldn't know what to do with them,” Barcaw said.
Barcaw also said that violent crime in the city has decreased by 3% in the last year, while calls of service are down by 2.4%, and over 20% over the past five years.
In a press release, TPD states that data showcases Tampa as having the 2nd lowest violent crime rate per capita when compared with cities that have similar population sizes, including Miami, Orlando, Cleveland and New Orleans.
But one City Council member put those numbers into question. Bill Carlson says based on conversations he's had with residents and police officers, the numbers aren't telling the full story.
"What they're saying is that, first of all, these numbers are self-reported,” Carlson said. “And they say that this administration is having the reporting done in a way that downsizes the numbers to make it look better."
But Barcaw defended the data he presented.
"We want the bad numbers? I'll give you the bad numbers,” Barcaw said. “The auto burglaries are out of control. And guns are being stolen out of cars, and they're getting into the wrong hands. Those numbers are up. But the fact is, our violent crime is down. And that's not a misleading stat."
