A Couple of Data Points about CPD Staffing
CPD Staffing projections 2026-2027
I am posting page 44 from the city’s 2026-2027 Biennial Budget and page 306 from the city’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, which is the most current ACFR.
First, the biennial budget was passed by the city council in June 2025. It includes a table on page 44 with staffing “projections” for sworn police officers for July 2025, July 2026, and July 2027.
As you can see, even though the mayor, city manager and city council members are all now saying that they have been increasing the number of sworn police officers, the 2026-2027 budget tells a different story.
The 2026-2027 budget that the city council just passed a couple of months ago in June 2025, “projects” a decline of 33 sworn officers between July 2025 and June 2027. Obviously, the mayor and city council were satisfied with that projected reduction in the number of sworn police officers. At least that is how it looks to me.
Second, unfortunately, there is a lengthy lag time before the ACFR is certified by the State Auditor every year. So, the June 2024 report is the most current financial report available.
Schedule 2 of the ACFR got my attention. For the police, Schedule 2 provides data about the number of Service Calls, Arrests, and Reports Filed for the past ten years.
Check out the steep reduction (39%) in the number of arrests in 2021 and another steep reduction (38%) in arrests in 2022. For 2023 and 2024 the number of arrests has stayed relatively constant below 9000 arrests.
According to Schedule 2, CPD made 20,130 fewer arrests in 2024 compared to 2015. There are, of course, a number of factors that must be identified to explain the steep reductions in arrests over the past several years. But perhaps the reason for Cincinnati’s crime problem is simply because CPD is not making as many arrests every year as it used to.
