The Baltimore Police Department this week marked the graduation of its largest recruit class in 12 years, a sign of what department leaders say is a turnaround in recruiting and retention amid a sustained decline in violent crime.
Forty-six new officers took the oath of office Thursday evening before a packed sanctuary at Zion Baptist Church on Harford Avenue, where family members, friends and police leaders gathered to mark the recruits’ entry into a profession that has struggled in recent years to replenish its ranks.
For Police Commissioner Richard Worley, the size of the class reflects a department benefiting from momentum after years of staffing shortages and scrutiny.
“We’re having success, and everybody wants to be a part of success,” Worley told The Baltimore Sun after the ceremony. “And what better place to go than Baltimore? You’ve got a city that’s changing, a department that’s changing.”
The graduation comes as Baltimore continues to post some of its lowest levels of violent crime in decades. The city’s homicide count fell 31% last year, reaching its lowest level in at least half a century. Through Friday morning, Baltimore had recorded 44 homicides this year, down from 59 at the same point in 2025.
In his speech during the ceremony, Worley cautioned the new officers that the road ahead won’t be easy. He told them that on those hard days, they should remember why they chose the profession and the department.
“People don’t call the police when things are going well,” Worley said. “They call us in the most difficult moments and sometimes on the worst days of their lives. That’s when your compassion, your training and your patience matter most.”
Changing perspectives
Though Officer Antonio Roy Jr., 30, spent eight months at the Baltimore Police Academy, this milestone has been years in the making. He has relatives who are police officers, and that, along with being able to serve his community, are among the major reasons Roy — who hails from the Edmondson Village neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore — decided he wanted to be an officer.
Roy said the wants to show people, including children, that they can rely on the police.
“So that they don’t just see the uniform, they see I’m a human being as well,” Roy said. “They see that the uniform just adds to being able to help them and make them feel safe.”
Roy’s brother, Ashton Roy, said he’s proud of his brother. He said that in his work with the Baltimore nonprofit HeartSmiles, a youth development and mentorship organization, he tries to show the children that not every officer is bad.
Ashton Roy said the relationships that children build with officers can shape how they view law enforcement as a whole.
Recruitment and retention
In 2025, the Baltimore Police Department saw a 47% increase in sworn officer hires compared with 2024, according to a January news release from the department. The release states that 241 sworn officers were hired in 2025, and 164 sworn officers were hired in 2024.
The department has also seen gains in retention. Last year, the department hired 70 more sworn officers than it lost. According to the January news release from the department, 158 sworn officers departed the force in 2025, a 14% reduction from the year before.
In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Worley attributed these rates to improved morale, marketing efforts and the removal of a cap on raises for officers who have worked with the department for 26 years or more.
But retention still has a way to go, Worley acknowledged. He said that with 2,087 officers on the force, the department is about 400 officers short of its ideal staffing level.
Worley said he’s noticed that, for the first time, lots of academy recruits are saying they joined because someone else in the department told them to join.
“We never had that in the past,” he said.
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