Job Availability

[jmur5074]

Is your state one of the states that has an abundance of qualified applicants, but not enough jobs? Or does your state have too many jobs and not enough qualified applicants?

Has your department changed their requirements to accept applicants who would have previously been disqualified?

[BigDawg]

I know So Florida has an abundance of jobs.....but since we are a brand new dept. I cant comment on the lowering of standards.

[jmur5074]

I would say MN has more applicants than jobs.

Small town departments that can't pay their officers peanuts to cover a city of 1,200 people are getting 40+ applicants.

Bigger departments are getting 3 and 4 times as many applicants just for one position.

It's not uncommon for applicants from MN to go elsewhere to look for jobs.

[GhostCop]

We have an abundance of jobs and struggle to get qualified applicants. We have not and will not lower our standards to fill positions. We have gone to recruiting out of state. We are hiring alot of new people from Michigan, Minnesota and other places where the economy is depressed. Right now, Wyoming is in a boom. My agency will be testing again on May 28th, 2008 and we hope to hire around 10. We are authorized 98 sworn Officers and have lost quite a few recently to retirement and medical retirement.

[gozling]

I know MDPD changed its requirements on living inside the county and keeping the issued POV's in county. The applications of those in county just were not sufficient and by allowing the POV's to be "Tri-county" made a huge difference with applicants.

More people are retired than hired at the moment

[gopherpuckfan]

I would say MN has more applicants than jobs.

Small town departments that can't pay their officers peanuts to cover a city of 1,200 people are getting 40+ applicants.

Bigger departments are getting 3 and 4 times as many applicants just for one position.

And, yet, many people who have no business being a cop are still getting hired

(not a reference to you, josh )

[ryan36002]

We get about 30-40 applicants every time we post an opening. Only about 5-6 have any business applying. We have several repeats each time. Working at the Academy I get to see practically every new cop in the state. Most of the recruits I have seen in the last year are newly made war vets in their mid-twenties. You do see the occasional "How did he become a Cop?" come through.

http://www.oregon.gov/OSP/CJIS/index.shtml

(click "weekly job openings" under the latest news heading)

[Pudge]

It really depends on the area, but in general there are many more applicants than positions.

Around here it's extremely difficult to get alot of applicants because our area isn't competitive in pay with some of the other places within 20-30 miles.

Ohio is Open Enrollment for the Peace Officer's Academy, meaning you need no affiliation with a department to go. They produce ALOT of people who have no business being a cop. The state gives them no commission until they get on with a department. After graduation they get a Certificate of Completion that basically says they passed and have one year to obtain a commission.

[AlDeputy]

We can't get enough qualified applicants to fill our open positions, we are civil service and the last time we gave the test 18 people showed up after all was said and done (written, agility test, polygraph and background) we hired 1 who wasn't already employed as a CO. Back in the mid 1990's when the County gave the civil service exam we whould have 100's take the test. Maybe if we started at more then $13.51 an hour things would improve.

[gopherpuckfan]

Maybe if we started at more then $13.51 an hour things would improve.

Is that considered a livable wage down there?

[jmur5074]

And, yet, many people who have no business being a cop are still getting hired

(not a reference to you, josh )

Being from the same state, what's your opinion on it?? Like I already said we have way more applicants than jobs.

I think I graduated from Alex with a class of 120 or so....then you have to consider Roch, Hibbing, Ely, and all the 4 year colleges that have a criminal justice program rather than a Law Enforcement program.

And the post board only shows 23 job openings at the moment.

[AlDeputy]

Is that considered a livable wage down there?

not even close, many of duty jobs just to survive.

[Xiphos]

Our problem isn't recruiting, it's retention. The city keeps raising the starting salary without adjusting the rest of the pay scale. This causes compression with rookies making nearly as much as 15 year veterans. The result is that guys quickly realize they have the best training and experience on this end of the state and can pick the agency and position they want to go to. They also get pay that is comensurate with their experience and training when they go somewhere else. The average years of experience on the street right now is about 2-2.5 years. Guys like me with 8 or 9 years are few and far between. They are either detectives or at another agency making more money and enjoying a better quality of work-life. I'm too old to switch agencies and start my retirement over again. I probably could but I'm not interested so I'm stuck here. I will be jumping ship as soon as I'm able to.