Cadets with the San Francisco Police Department’s 289th recruit class move into formation to simulate daily flag raising outside the academy in San Francisco.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
In a sign that the San Francisco Police Department may be reversing course on its long-running struggle to recruit officers, the agency is attracting more applicants and hiring at a level not seen in years, according to city data.
While the department remains hundreds of officers short of recommended staffing levels, aggressive recruitment efforts — financed in part by private donations — appear to be yielding results, driven by an advertising blitz, the allure of regular pay increases, a streamlined application process and a political climate shift that experts say has made law enforcement careers more appealing.
Cadets with the San Francisco Police Department’s 288th recruit class put on their equipment belt to practice defensive tactics with batons at the academy mat room in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
SFPD received 5,023 applications and hired 225 officers in 2025, ending the year with 36 more officers than it lost to retirements and other departures — its first annual staffing increase in six years, according to the department. The increase came after a low point in 2021, when SFPD attracted 1,404 applicants and hired 41 officers.
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Last year’s hires included 32 officers from other law enforcement agencies — a reflection of the department’s stated goal of finding experienced candidates who require less training to beef up the ranks more quickly. In 2021, the department did not hire a single officer from another agency.
The surge carried into the first months of 2026. January, for instance, drew 803 applications, the highest total for a single month in five years, according to the department. In January 2025, the total was 434 applications.
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The city’s plan to beef up the ranks “delivered results in 2025, and we’re bringing that momentum into 2026,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement. “We’ve proven that when our police force is fully staffed, San Francisco is safer.”
A cadets with the San Francisco Police Department’s 288th recruit class practice defensive tactics with batons at the academy mat room in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
The department’s efforts to increase staffing could get another boost soon. The city and union representing officers reached a tentative deal last week that would include a 14% raise over the next four years, as well as a 3% retention bonus for officers who’ve been on the force at least five years, creating a key recruitment tool as departments compete for applicants and struggle to retain officers after they’re hired.
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The raises and hiring surge come as the city faces a budget deficit and plans to cut 500 positions in other departments, raising questions about how the city will finance the police without major impacts to other government services. A report released last week by SPUR said the city’s police and fire department contracts, which account for a large share of the budget, could impact the city’s ability to pay for other programs. It’s cheaper, however, to hire additional officers than to incur the costs of overtime, a costly stopgap SFPD relies on as a result of its staffing shortage, according to the mayor’s office.
SFPD remains 500 officers short of levels recommended in a city-commissioned staffing analysis, forcing the 1,883-officer department to rely heavily on overtime to fill gaps. In 2023, SFPD spent $108.4 million on overtime, up from $52.9 million five years earlier, according to the latest available city data. Even with hiring gains, attrition is expected to remain a challenge, as officers hired during a surge about 30 years ago retire.
San Francisco’s rebound mirrors a broader trend. Police departments around the country reported increases in hiring in recent years, even as they remained below their pre-2020 staffing levels, according to policing experts.
“We’re definitely starting to see that policing is slowly recovering,” said Thaddeus Johnson, a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, a national think tank. He added that while some cities continue to struggle, others, including San Francisco and New York, turned a corner.
Even so, it could take agencies, including SFPD, years to rebuild their ranks. “It won’t be overnight,” Johnson said. “It may not even be three to five years.”
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Cadets with the San Francisco Police Department’s 289th recruit class stand in formation while learning flag raising procedures at the academy in San Francisco.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Johnson said he believed the profession was attracting more applicants for several reasons, including a shift in the way officers do their job. “It’s not just the running-and-gunning type of policing that we grew up with in the 80s and 90s. It’s much more technologically savvy. It’s much more focused and targeted.”
In San Francisco, department officials credited the gains to strategic recruitment efforts, streamlined hiring and a political climate shift.
The strides mark a reversal after SFPD and other departments nationwide saw steep turnover rates and fewer applicants after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd in 2020, an incident that led to renewed scrutiny of police and calls for reform. In recent years, though, political and cultural winds shifted in some cities, including San Francisco, where city leaders — perhaps most notably Lurie — regularly voice strong support for SFPD.
Recruitment strategies the department rolled out in recent months were varied, including 15-second video ads on YouTube, paid for by a $500,000 donation from tech executive Michael Seibel. Then there was a digital billboard truck that was parked in other Bay Area cities to attract officers from other agencies. The department targeted laterals in particular because they come with experience and hit the streets faster than new recruits, department spokesman Evan Sernoffsky said.
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“We know there is a great talent pool there of officers,” he said.
At the center of SFPD’s recruitment strategies are the pay and benefits SFPD offers, which officials said are among the most competitive in the region. For entry-level officers, it’s $119,000 to $198,000. For lateral officers, it’s $123,000 to $198,000, plus a $5,000 bonus.
To expedite the hiring process, the department hired additional background investigators and contractors to manage the flow of applications. SFPD also launched “one-stop” testing events that replaced a months-long process. The streamlining was important so as to not lose prospects to other agencies, Sernoffsky said.
Even so, the department maintained its hiring standards, he said. “Being a police officer is a tremendous responsibility and we cannot afford to not be extremely diligent in our hiring process, but there are things we can do” to expedite the steps, he said.
SFPD was the only agency Ofc. Nathaniel Keeve set his sights on. A San Francisco native and the son of a retired SFPD officer, Keeve joined last year after competing in judo for almost a decade and working as a middle school substitute teacher for three years.
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“I do feel an obligation to give back,” the 30-year-old said. “I think that if you’re capable of doing something then you should do it. Who should do the hard things? Those who can.”
What lured him to SFPD were the vast opportunities within the department when it comes to assignments. A patrol officer in the northwestern part of the city, Keeve hopes to one day become a plain-clothes officer or SWAT team member.
Keeve said the hiring process took longer than he anticipated — about six months. Still, that’s much lower than it once took to hire officers. Just a year or so ago, recruitment could take as long as nine months.
Keeve said he believed SFPD is excelling at showcasing the department — whether it be its technology or officers — in a good light. “I think people can see we’re doing good work for good reasons,” Keeve said. “We’re trying to make a difference in a positive way for the betterment of the city.”