The University of the District of Columbia and D.C. police have partnered to create a new college credit pathway for police recruits.
The partnership is part of the Metropolitan Police Department’s efforts to reach its goal of having a total of 4,000 officers. Currently, there are 3,188 sworn officers in the department.
Recruits in the program at UDC can earn up to 20 college credits while in the police department training academy. They’re required to do 60 post-secondary hours to become an officer.
“It’s not a rubber stamp, it’s really getting them the knowledge and skills and abilities they need to be highly qualified police officers,” said Marilyn Hamilton, the dean of Office of Academic Affairs at UDC.
Hamilton and Associate Dean William Hacker worked on the initiative, which is part of the Peace DC Omnibus Emergency Amendment Act of 2025.
“This will increase the police force because they have found a good number of individuals interested in policing, but just didn’t have that 60 credits that they required to become a sworn officer,” Hacker said.
So far this year, MPD has hired 135 new recruits and brought in 124 cadets.
Despite those numbers, the News4 I-Team discovered that the department’s staffing has fallen 11% since 2021.
“We need to add hundreds more police,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said recently.
“We know that we need at least 500 hundred additional officers to meet our current staffing needs. We also know the market is highly competitive,” Police Chief Pamela Smith said.
With that in mind, MPD rolled out several incentives to get closer to the goal post, including a 13% pay raise for police officers by Oct. 1, an increase in bonuses and expanding its take-home vehicle access program.
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