Duluth swears in eight new police recruits, boosting staffing

Eight new recruits did not instantly solve Duluth’s staffing gap, but they did move the Police Department a little closer to a fuller roster in a city where every sworn position affects patrol coverage, call response and overtime.

The city swore in Tyler Holbrook, Evan Graves, Lucas Ciciora, Alexa Verry, Brady Herbst, Kaden Kucza, Grace Maciej and Blayne Bruckelmyer at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Public Safety Building, 2030 N. Arlington Ave. The ceremony was also streamed on Facebook Live through the Duluth Police Department’s account. Beyond the public ceremony, the larger question for residents is whether the department can turn new recruits into dependable street-level coverage fast enough to keep pace with retirements, resignations and the steady demand for service.

Duluth police said each recruit had already gone through a comprehensive five-month hiring process that included multiple interviews and exams. That pipeline matters in practical terms: it is the barrier between a vacancy on paper and a trained officer available for patrol in neighborhoods, downtown, and at the calls that fill a normal shift. In a department that says it is the third-largest municipal police department in Minnesota, even a class of eight can affect how often existing officers are stretched thin.

The department’s authorized strength is about 158 officers, along with roughly 40 support staff, and the city lists the 2025 police budget at $29,258,000. Those numbers frame the scale of the staffing challenge. Duluth police are split into Patrol, Investigative and Administrative divisions, and every opening in one of those lanes can ripple through the rest of the operation, especially when the department is competing with other agencies for a smaller pool of POST-licensed applicants in Minnesota.

Chief Mike Ceynowa, who was named police chief in September 2022, has tied recruitment and retention to a broader push for a professional workforce that reflects the community it serves. The department has also pledged through the 30x30 initiative to have 30 percent of sworn officers be women by 2030, another sign that the hiring effort is about more than simply filling seats. It is about whether Duluth can build and keep enough officers to meet daily demand without leaning too hard on overtime or leaving vacancies open.

The department says lateral officers with at least three years of experience and a POST license in good standing can enter the process at the chief’s interview stage, a shortcut meant to help in a tight market. For Duluth taxpayers, the payoff from Thursday’s swearing-in will come only if these eight recruits become part of a stable workforce that keeps patrols visible and response times steady across the city.