Green Bay Reporter

Green Bay police chief Chris Davis wants to use $150,000 in federal COVID-19 relief money to hire new police officers and retain existing officers on the force, Fox 11 News reported.

Mayor Eric Genrich supports the chief's proposal, the station reported.

"We're sending out the invitation far and wide to all highly qualified officers," the mayor said. "We'd love for them to be working in the City of Green Bay.”

There are currently nine openings on the force, the station reported. Davis wants to pay recruits up to $10,000 in moving expenses as a recruiting tool and to also provide professional development to keep existing officers on the force, Fox 11 said.

“We did this in a contingency model because it's really hard to predict exactly where we will get new hires from,” Davis said.

He didn't request more officers in his budget because he hasn't been able to fill the open slots he already has, the story said.

Meanwhile, the chief plans to evaluate the department's resources over the next few years.

“Look at where we are, look at where we want to be and where there is a difference, that is where you need resources added,” Davis said, according to Fox 11.

Nationally, there are fewer candidates for police job following criticism of police departments for killing unarmed blacks, the Journal News in Ohio reported. Officers are retiring faster than they can be replaced as 86% of police departments across the country are facing shortages, the newspaper reported.

In normal times, out of 20 background checks of potential candidates, Green Bay is able to hire 12 officers, Green Bay Police Captain Ben Allen told WBAY. This year, the department has conducted 58 checks but was only able to hire nine officers, because of issues such as inexperience, recent drug use and failing polygraph tests, Allen said.