Like many seaside towns, Atlantic City relies on part-time police officers to manage the swell of seasonal visitors and police its boardwalk when temperatures warm.

However, city officials say they are struggling to find enough applicants to meet their summer needs, losing potential hires to full-time police positions in other cities that offer higher pay and benefits.

The situation prompted the city to consider whether or not to end the SLEO Class II program for additional officers in place of the full-time officers that would be hired before next summer.

“We (Atlantic City) need to start moving very quickly and aggressively to start preparing for the summer,” City Councilman Khaleem Shabazz said during September’s Clean and Safe meeting, an initiative where city officials talk about the issues the community.

The lawmaker said he is preparing to introduce legislation at an upcoming city council meeting to end the program, giving the city the power to prioritize staffing full-time officers.

The need for officers overlaps with increasing crime in Atlantic City, officials said. Police Chief James Sarkos said during the meeting that his department has received more than 96,000 calls for service so far this year. Police arrested 3,883 people during that period, compared to 3,049 last year. Sarkos said the change reflected a 27.3 percent year-on-year increase.

More than 100 firearms have been recovered by the police this year as well.

The city controls enough funds to hire 70 part-time officers through the program, Sarkos said. So far, only five, all of whom are retired police officers, have shown interest, he said.

With fewer officers available, Sarkos said the force was left to shuffle its staff around its mission, particularly by reassigning officers to the promenade.

“The only thing I’m 100% in favor of is for retired officers to come back as Second Class,” Sarkos said. “They’re trained and I don’t have to put extra money into them. Getting a young officer 2nd class is just wasting money. As soon as we hire them, they go somewhere else.”

The decision to cancel the program would mirror a similar move by Ocean City, Maryland, Shabazz said. That city announced plans to stop offering seasonal police positions at the end of 2024, describing seasonal jobs as one of the most sought-after summer positions.

Atlantic City remains overseen by the state government as part of a years-long oversight of the resort town’s assets. The takeover, which Governor Phil Murphy extended into 2021 and set to expire next year, allows state officials to control city spending, including hiring and firing employees.

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, which handles the takeover through local government services, did not return a request from NJ Advance Media for comment.

Protecting the city’s promenade, perhaps its most important attraction, has been a priority for the police, who in recent years have relied on specially hired officers. They were placed in substations on the boardwalk for better crowd surveillance.

Traditionally, programs like Atlantic City have also been a pathway for budding officers interested in a career in law enforcement. Sarkos said the number of applicants has dropped rapidly, a problem he attributes to a wider decline in interest in police work.

The Class II officers were funded by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, the state agency that oversees Atlantic City’s tourist district, through 2022, according to city officials. He contributed $1.5 million from 2020 to 2022.

This year, the city budgeted $897,000 for those officers.