News Photo by Julie Riddle Police officers talk during a police investigation in Alpena this week.

ALPENA — Alpena residents may be safer in the future because of millions of dollars earmarked for police training in the 2022 Michigan budget signed on Wednesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Police agencies statewide say they can’t find enough qualified hires to fill their vacant positions. That problem will get worse quickly as the state faces a flood of retirements, according to 1st Lt. John Grimshaw, commander of the Michigan State Police-Alpena Post, which is five officers short of a full staff.

Hundreds of Michiganders, like him, entered law enforcement in the 1990s, Grimshaw said. Now, those officers are ready to retire, and many have started that process, with few new recruits stepping up to take their place.

The need for police has not decreased with the number of officers available, data and local incidents indicate.

In early September, a nearly three-week trial in an Alpena County sexual assault case hinged on years of investigation by police. This week, police announced the discovery of the body of a missing Alpena teenager after extensive police detective work.

Violent crime increases around the country accounted for a nearly 30% jump in murders between 2019 and 2020, according to the FBI.

At the same time, police agency hiring decreased by 5% and retirement increased by 45% in a one-year span, based on a nationwide survey by the Police Executive Research Forum.

“We don’t need less,” Grimshaw said. “That’s the worst thing we can do.”

Michigan’s 2022 budget includes $7.5 million designated for trooper recruit schools, including the one-time funding of a trooper school designed to graduate 50 new officers.

Pending retirements mean the state will pocket $10 million no longer paid to those retiring officers — money the budget proposes spending on training 70 more new officers to make up for the lost workers.

Though money for 120 new police officers may be available, people willing to fill those roles may not.

Local police regularly express discouragement in their work, feeling much of society sees them as the bad guy rather than as public servants who want to protect their communities.

The promised funding of trooper recruit schools and other police needs helps police know they have the support of their state, Grimshaw said.

Some Alpena Post officers may sport body cameras in the future, thanks to $3.8 million earmarked in the budget for the cameras and the cost of operating them.

The devices themselves make up a small percentage of the cost of the technology. Digital storage of hours and hours of recorded data costs millions of dollars, Grimshaw said.

The budget provides $4.5 million for de-escalation, cultural competency, and communication training via the creation of a new professional development bureau.

Alpena may also acquire a new breathalizer to replace the machine at the Alpena County Jail, which was one of several around the state cited for inaccurate results during a several-week period in late 2019.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.