MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Police Department needs hundreds more officers, how many though is up for debate.
District Attorney Amy Weirich told FOX13 Wednesday that an assessment of the Memphis Police Department needs to be done to determine the exact number.
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Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings said in the Just City podcast this week that he needs at least 2,500 police officers in order for the department to be able to do their job. He said even more officers would be ideal.
Right now, the department has only slightly more than 1,900.
The officer shortage has been well documented over the past few years.
District Attorney Weirich believes it has been focused on more lately because of the spike in violent crime, and last year’s record homicides.
“Before we just start hiring people and plugging them into spots there is going to be assessments that are done to see what is that number that this community needs,” said District Attorney Weirich.
“It may be the 2,500 to 2,600 that the director talks about. Could be a number that is higher than that, could be a number that is lower than that, but that's work that still has to be done to really assess this police department, the work that they do.”
The city’s goal is to get up to 2,300 officers by 2020.