Milwaukee lobbying for statewide bonus program to bring more police officers to Wisconsin

Milwaukee officials are pushing state lawmakers to create a statewide bonus incentive program to bring more police officers to Wisconsin.

The ask comes as the city is under pressure to hire more police officers under a bipartisan law to overhaul local government funding. The law says the city must maintain staffing levels year over year and must employ at least 1,725 police officers by the start of 2034.

The number of sworn police officers in Milwaukee dropped nearly 16 percent from 2019 to 2024. 

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson signed a resolution Friday that calls on the city to lobby for, “the creation and funding of a State of Wisconsin statewide police recruitment bonus incentive program.”

“A big challenge that we have in Milwaukee is the reduction in the number of people seeking to become police officers,” Johnson said. “It’s a challenge that departments, not just here, but all over the state and all over the country, quite frankly, are facing.” 

“This is really, really important, and I’m hopeful the state will join our recruiting work so that our crime reduction efforts are kept on track in Milwaukee as well as elsewhere in the state,” Johnson also said.

Milwaukee’s resolution, which was passed by the Milwaukee Common Council in February, mentions the “Florida Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Payment Program,” which was launched in 2022.

A November statement from the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said over 6,400 bonuses of $5,000 have been given to officers across the state under the program. New recruits and officers who move to Florida to work for a police department in the state are eligible for the bonuses. The statement said the bonus has been awarded to “more than 1,560 law enforcement officers from 49 other states and two territories.”

Jordan Primakow, the director of intergovernmental relations for the city of Milwaukee, said the resolution allows him to lobby for the creation of a similar program in Wisconsin. 

“We’ve seen programs such as this work in other communities and states around the country, and we hope that’s something we can implement here,”  Primakow said.  

Primakow said he and others with the city often have discussions with state lawmakers about public safety in Milwaukee.

“So we’re at least cautiously optimistic that this is something that will be taken seriously,” he said.

Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said he supports the measure. Palmer said incentive and bonus programs are just one way to boost law enforcement staffing. 

“Anything we can do to increase the number of officers working in Wisconsin, I think will not only benefit public safety, but it’ll benefit officer safety, and I think that’s critically important,” Palmer said in an interview with WPR. 

In his role, Palmer often visits police departments across the state.

“Regardless of where I go, whether it’s agencies that are in rural areas, urban areas, large, small, all of them seem to have a consistent frustration and a consistent concern — and that is that they’re just not getting enough applicants when they have openings available in their departments,” Palmer said.

In a statement, State Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, said he also supports the idea.

“I am certainly supportive of additional efforts to fill our depleted ranks and believe this could be another tool to address the issue,” Donovan wrote. “Financial incentives are key and I am in favor of exploring this mirror legislation.”

A 2019 report from the International Association of Chiefs of Police found there is a “recruitment crisis” at departments across the nation.  A Police Executive Research Forum survey of police departments showed a decrease in hirings and increase in resignations in 2020 and 2021.

Milwaukee not filling recruit classes

Milwaukee budgeted for three classes of 65 police recruits each in 2024. But those classes only averaged around 30 recruits per class.

The city’s 2025 budget calls for another three recruit classes of 65 police officers.

During a February judiciary and legislation committee meeting, Milwaukee Alder Sharlen Moore said a bonus program in Wisconsin would benefit the city because it wouldn’t be coming out of the city budget. It comes as Milwaukee will likely be facing a “persistence of significant budget gaps in the coming years,” according to a 2024 city budget document.

This isn’t the first time Milwaukee has tried to use a bonus plan to hire more police officers. The city announced in November it would give police officers with at least one year of experience who transfer to Milwaukee from another department a $10,000 bonus if they agree to stay in the city for at least four years.

Leon Todd, the executive director of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, said 11 police laterals, or officers who leave one department to move to another, are currently eligible for that bonus.