OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Police Department continues to seek applicants for its summer enforcement program.
On Monday, Ocean City Police Chief Ross Buzzuro presented members of the Ocean City Police Commission with an update on seasonal recruitment.
For decades, the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) has enhanced its workforce with seasonal officers and public safety aides (PSA) during the summer months. And while interest in the seasonal program gained some momentum two years ago, Buzzuro told commission members this week recruitment, particularly for PSAs, continues to lag.
“If you look at both seasonal officers and public safety aides, we’re fairly close with officers but are experiencing a drop off in interest in public safety aides,” he said.
Through the most recent January testing date, the police department reported having 51 seasonal officer applicants, with 16 failures, three conditional hires and 26 candidates remaining in the process.
Last year, OCPD had 115 total applicants and 42 hires, five of which were returning to the force.
“We are fortunate to have return seasonal police officers,” Buzzuro said. “There is an interest.”
In terms of PSA recruitment, the department reported having 24 applicants with no failures and no conditional hires. Last year, OCPD had 50 applicants and 48 hires, 20 of which were returning PSAs.
“We’re fortunate all 24 [applicants] still remain in the process,” Buzzuro said.
Councilman Peter Buas, commission chair, questioned when the department would finalize its hiring numbers.
“When will we have a better idea of when those applicants will be able to convert?” he said.
Officials noted that numbers would be finalized in April, ahead of May training.
“It’s going to take a little while … because of the vetting process,” Buzzuro replied.
Officials noted the department would continue to hold testing throughout the winter months. The next round of testing is scheduled for Jan. 28-29.
The police commission this week also reviewed police activity for the month of December. The department reported officer calls for service decreased from 1,630 in 2021 to 1,187 in 2022, while citizen calls for service increased from 490 to 631.
“That is a difference of 141 calls for service,” Buzzuro said. “To put that into perspective, that’s about 21 calls a day in December, which is less than one an hour.”
In the top 25 calls for service, citizen assists decreased from 128 to 94, EMS assists increased from 36 to 80 and traffic stops increased from 582 to 664.
“I don’t see anything that’s rather glaring that calls for further attention in terms of activity,” Buzzuro said.
