TOLEDO, Ohio — Four Toledo police officers retired on Monday, with a combined total of 100 years of service.
The Toledo Police Department expressed well wishes to Officer Hunter, Officer Thieman, Detective Picking and Detective Mugler with a post on Twitter.
Detective Jason Picking was the detective shot in the face while in the line of duty back in Nov. of 2017, after a SWAT team executed a search warrant at a home in west Toledo.
These retirements come as the Toledo Police Department kicks off the year with a staffing deficit.
In a usual year, the department averages 18 to 20 retirements, but 2020 brought 31.
Currently, there are 602 sworn officers working and they'll soon have 627 officers with the 25 cadets in their academy. However, those additions aren't enough to make up for the deficit.
For Toledo's size and crime rate, Police Chief George Kral said he would like to see up to 720 officers on the force.