Study Shows Miami Has Enough Cops. City Could Add Hundreds Anyway.

Miami city commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to direct the city manager to find more than $64 million over three years — about $21.6 million annually — to hire 300 additional Miami Police Department (MPD) officers.

MPD officials told New Times in a written statement Wednesday that the move is necessary to keep up with Miami's steadily rising population since the pandemic.

A study used by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), however, indicates the city is well within national standards of appropriate staffing levels, which says cities should have between 1.8 and 2.6 officers per 1,000 residents.

MPD appears to have more than an appropriate number of sworn officer positions, according to an FDLE report examining the police-to-resident ratio.

"Most agencies across the country determine their staffing needs by either allocating a certain number of officers per capita, determining minimum staffing levels, budget allocations, or workload analysis," Jeff Mahoney writes in his analysis. "Agencies do not consider the thousands and sometimes millions of transient populations that visit or live in their jurisdiction." 

Mahoney notes that the analysis helps departments determine minimum staffing levels, but agencies use budget allocation and the department's workload to determine staffing levels.  

By the officer-to-personnel metric, MPD should have between 835 and 1,200 officers; MPD has 1,390 sworn officers, Police Chief Manuel Morales said at the meeting.

Morales and Commissioner Joe Carollo said at the meeting that the need is driven primarily by a rise in population.

Carollo didn't respond to New Times' requests for comment before the meeting.

Between 2020 and 2025, Miami added more than 20,000 residents, bringing the city's population up to about 464,000, according to World Population Review. MPD argues that the influx of people demands more police to protect and serve them, but it's not the only driving factor behind the move, department spokesman Mike Vega told New Times in a written statement.

"The need to hire police officers stems from the City of Miami's growth, the anticipated retirement of many sworn personnel, and sworn police officer turnover," Vega says.

Carollo argued at the meeting that the city needs additional officers to handle the almost weekly influx of tourists.

Last year, Carollo went to Morales with a proposal to add officers to the force, Morales told the audience at the meeting. Morales declined because the department had about 80 vacancies he wanted to fill first, he said.

"Now, we're in a better position," Morales said. "I've got about 40 vacancies right now, and we expect to fill them by the end of the year.

"Miami has the potential to grow ten times what it is now. I don't think we'll get there in my lifetime. But this gets us ready for what's to come."

Miami City Manager Arthur Noriega couldn't guarantee he'd be able to find the funds each year to bring that number closer to 1,700, but said at the meeting that he would explore different avenues to fulfill the goal.