Police officers offered a $10,000 bonus to join department ahead of World Cup

Riley Bunch, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jul 14, 2025

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ATLANTA — Atlanta is looking to lure experienced police officers to its force by offering a five-figure signing bonus for those willing to join the department ahead of the highly-anticipated 2026 FIFA World Cup games.

The Atlanta Police Foundation announced last week it will offer $10,000 to already-trained officers as a way to skip onboarding and bolster the force ahead of next summer’s events.

As of May, the department’s number of sworn officers was 1,759 — the highest number of filled positions since 2021, Chief Darin Schierbaum told City Council members during a quarterly briefing.

But the number is still far from the 2,000-plus sworn officers the city is aiming for.

Schierbaum said the department needs to be prepared to both staff events and be able to respond to the daily public safety demands of the city.

“Our special events division has been activated, starting to make all the plans necessary, not only to protect the event, but to support the men and women who will be out serving in the street during that time,” he said. “And to make sure all other neighborhoods of the city continue to see police service being delivered uninterrupted during the World Cup games.”

The pressure to fill the vacant positions ahead of the World Cup is coupled with a need to reduce the number of overtime hours that put a large dent in the city budget this year.

City officials during the most recent budget season said that the police department made up more than half of the troublesome Fiscal Year 2025 budget overrun that led to cuts and layoffs inside City Hall.

Last month the city’s finance department reported that public safety would account for about $50 million in overspending.

Avoiding another financial hole this current fiscal year is good reason to boost recruitment efforts. APD officials have said that a flurry of major events caused the overtime — the presidential election, increased security needs at the public safety training center and responses to severe weather.

“In November, we spent approximately $1.8 million in overtime,” Schierbaum said during budget briefings in May. “In January — which had the snow emergencies — we spent $2.2 million in overtime.”

City wants businesses to benefit from World Cup, too

The city last week launched a vendor directory of small businesses eager to benefit from the influx of cash from the World Cup, the 2028 Super Bowl and frequent conventions that bring thousands of visitors to Atlanta annually.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber recently estimated that out-of-state visitors for the World Cup will bring in about $500 million of economic impact.

But Mayor Andre Dickens is hopeful that estimate is low, and has said the number could be more than $1 billion if the city can persuade visitors to stay a day or two longer.

“With this program, our goal is to ensure our small businesses are not just spectators to the nation’s and world’s biggest events — they are direct participants,” Dickens said.

But low attendance at a majority of the city’s FIFA Club World Cup matches that just took place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium isn’t a good sign.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the first Club World Cup match in Atlanta, featuring Chelsea FC, had the worst soccer attendance the stadium has seen since the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 22,000 of the 71,000 seats were filled. Average attendance across the first four matches came in less than 40,000.

Attendance grew as the club tournament went on. Over the Fourth of July weekend, the quarterfinal match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and FC Bayern Munich saw nearly 67,000 attendees.

According to the city, the combined attendance of all six FIFA Club World Cup 2025 matches was approximately 258,265.

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