ALBUQUERQUE – The Albuquerque Police Department continues to successfully recruit and hire officers to join the ranks as 6 new lateral transfers graduate today and 48 cadets become sworn officers in October.

In addition to graduating laterals and cadets, more than 100 laterals and cadets are expected to start new classes at APD’s Academy and CNM before the end of the year.

“Our aggressive recruiting efforts are paying off, and we are about to announce new incentives that will help us keep up the momentum,” said APD Chief Harold Medina. “Like agencies across the nation, we are overcoming challenges to retaining officers who are choosing to retire or leaving for other reasons. However, APD is in a stronger position because we successfully recruited new officers even through the pandemic.”

In addition to increasing the department’s number of officers, APD is moving some shifts from four, 10-hour shifts, to five, 8-hour shifts so there will be overlapping coverage during patrol. The move will increase the number of officers on patrol at peak periods. For instance, there will be an increase in the number on patrol every Wednesday by 33%; patrols will increase by 46% every Thursday.

APD is also hiring more Police Service Aides in an effort to free up sworn officers to handle higher priority calls. The next class of 35 people start training to become PSAs in August. Another class of about 20 people will start next Spring. The investment in PSA’s will also add to the pipeline of qualified candidates who can become officers in the future.

APD is expected to make an announcement about a new hiring bonus next week.