For the first time since 2011, the Lubbock Police Department is proud to announce a net gain in manpower with a total of 415 sworn officers, the most in the department’s history.
Without changing or lowering standards, the Academy staff and recruiting team brought in more applicants last year than ever before, making it possible to hire 74 new officers. After 12 retirements, 14 resignations and 27 new officers unable to complete training, we saw a net gain of 21 officers join the force in 2016. This comes after four consecutive years of net losses.
Capitalizing on the increased manpower, the Lubbock Police Department will be able to focus on reducing the growing number of property crimes in Lubbock.
Currently, LPD has two Crime Suppression squads that proactively work to cut down on crimes such as home and vehicle burglaries and stolen vehicles. Last year alone, these eight officers made more than 400 arrests, recovered $3.2 million in stolen property, recovered nearly 200 stolen vehicles and closed more than 300 cases.
With the huge success of these squads and the added manpower to the department, LPD has created two new ‘Street Crimes’ squads to fight the increases in property crimes.
Just like the current squads, these new units will build intelligence on crime hot spots and habitual criminals. Many times a single individual or group is responsible for multiple crimes. These investigators will proactively work to stop those criminal enterprises.
These additional squads will also be fluid and able to adjust to current crime spikes. For example, they will focus on issues such as increased synthetic marijuana cases, package thefts during the holidays, or vehicle burglaries in targeted neighborhoods.
Our goal for 2017 is to continue adding more qualified officers to the department as we focus on ways to be more proactive in protecting our community.
(Press release from Lubbock Police)
