MINNEAPOLIS — Due to staffing shortages, Minneapolis has a new recruitment campaign to hire more police officers and 911 dispatchers.
Dispatchers - like Emilee Harman. She first felt called to take 911 calls almost 9 years ago and says she's here to stay.
"I don't like change," Harman said with a laugh. "Specifically for Minneapolis - I might be a little biased because I've never worked anywhere else so I don't know - but it's never dull … Other agencies that don't get the level of calls that we get, they don't experience that."
But perhaps the elephant in the room, and what's preventing more applicants, is the city's delicate community-police relations, especially following George Floyd's murder.
"Police are short-staffed, and everybody is short-staffed so the response times and everything like that is completely different," Harman said. "You get the callers who are a little bit unhappy with that."
Currently staffed with 563 officers, Police Chief Brian O'Hara says the Minneapolis Police Department is 40 percent smaller than it was in early 2020. The Minnesota Supreme Court in 2022 ruled Minneapolis must adhere to its city charter and employ a minimum of 731 officers.
Meanwhile, 911 director Joni Hodne says 10-15 more 911 call takers are needed.
It's why the city and police on Wednesday announced the "multi-year, comprehensive recruitment campaign" called Imagine Yourself.
"'911, what's the address of the emergency?' Just think about those 7 words for a moment, and what they mean to someone who is having one of the worst days of their lives on the other end of that phone," Hodne said at the press conference. "We're looking for individuals who can imagine themselves saying those words."
They say the first phase involves posting multimedia marketing aimed at people ages 18 to 44 living within 300 miles of Minneapolis. Promotional materials range from online ads to billboards and some are done in Hmong, Somali, and Spanish.
The $1 million campaign is paid for using federal funding. In 2022, the city council approved $7M in American Rescue Plan Act funding for future recruitment, retention and hiring.
Harman grew up in Minneapolis and says filling these positions would be a win-win for the community and police.
"It would take a lot of the stress off of triaging," Harman said, "that you're making sure calls aren't holding for a long period of time. Maybe spending a little bit more time on the phone with these callers."
Plus, full-time dispatchers can earn $31.27-$42.54 hourly.
City and police leaders say they've streamlined the application process by moving recruiters from the police department to the human resources department to better assist candidates through the hiring process. Application information is posted here.