The research and input from stakeholders informed the reorganization of Temple University Public Safety, previously named Campus Safety Services. The services performed by our distinct units of police officers, including supervisors and detectives, security officers, communications center dispatchers, and contracted Allied Universal security officers, go far beyond our campus boundaries, or what is considered traditional campus safety. In fact, Sgt. Fitzgerald was performing proactive policing off campus, within the patrol zone we co-patrol with PPD. Part of the reorganization has been the complete revision and enhancement of the public safety organizational chart with the proposed and approved expansion to bring on over a dozen strategic and tactical leadership and operational positions, while also aggressively hiring qualified individuals to fulfill open police officer positions. We have posted, and will continue to post, 15 positions, some of which are completely new open positions to increase our capacity and impact to serve our community more effectively.
For example, there are currently three key leadership positions posted, including director of messaging and communication, deputy director of organizational affairs, and director/captain of tactics and professional development. Additional postings include positions in Administrative Operations, Budget and Finance, Professional Standards and Advocacy, Accreditations, Patrol and Security Operations, Criminal Investigations, Training, Technology and Systems, Engagement, Event Operations, and Equipment and Technology. These positions are critical to Public Safety developing and expanding our skills and capabilities department wide to better serve the university and community. It should be noted that while other department budgets have been reduced, our budget has not.
The current job market to hire police officers is exceedingly difficult and there is a nationwide challenge for law enforcement agencies keeping up with attrition and retirements. We have lost several police officers who have chosen to leave the profession of policing, in addition to officers that are joining more rural departments. Our strategy is grounded in recruiting and hiring the most qualified individuals to join our department while maintaining our current staffing through retention. We are also hiring and building the department's capacity to provide in-house training through our new Tactical and Professional Development Unit. At the end of January, there were 72 police officers, compared to 79 in early December 2021. If sworn officers working in other capacities, such as supervisors and detectives, are included, there were 97 this January, compared to 110 in December 2021. Although these numbers are not where we would like, we are increasing our efforts and reviewing additional tactics to improve our recruitment and retainment efforts. However, we will not lower our hiring standards as there are issues for agencies that reduce their standards to increase numbers.
A new associate director of administrative operations position will be posted within the next week; the candidate will lead all public safety human resources efforts to recruit, hire, onboard and retain employees. A new contract for our police officers in 2022 increased the starting salary to $59,200, an 8–10% increase from the prior salary contracts depending on years of service. Even with our revised advertising strategy and salary, including a highlighted benefits package which includes free tuition to the employee, tuition remission for officers and their dependents, and a generous match plan for TIAA/Fidelity retirement accounts, we are not seeing the number of candidates we need or desire. We also consistently post to hire lateral (currently certified) police officers, and candidates who are not certified and will need to go through the police academy to add to officer ranks. We are currently reviewing our salary and benefits package to ensure we are competitive to hire and retain police officers.