By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Progress might just be coming as the St. Joseph Police Department attempts to fill more than 20 vacancies on the force.
Interim Police Chief Dave Hart reports the department has four rookie officers beginning course work in the Law Enforcement Academy at Missouri Western State University. The department is also looking at two others enrolled in the academy, which began its latest course Wednesday.
And Hart says even though the department suffers from a real officer shortage, it will remain picky.
“We’ve said all along, we’re short officers and we have a staffing crisis,” Hart tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “The caveat to that is, we’re not going to just hire anybody who comes through the door. The job is too valuable and it’s too important to our community. We want the best candidates that we can get.”
Hart has assigned an officer to be the department recruiter.
“And that’s what he’s doing is reaching out to these candidates, maintaining contact with them, showing them really what we have to offer and selling not only our department, but our community,” Hart says.
Hart says the department is being aggressive in trying to fill its vacancies, hiring rookies who need training and recruiting veterans from other departments.
“It’s going slow, but we are seeing good results,” according to Hart. “We’re actually seeing several different candidates from other agencies who have applied with us and are going through the process right now.”
In November, St. Joseph voters approved a half-cent sales tax that will fund an agreement the St. Joseph City Council reached with the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter, which will raise the beginning St. Joseph police officer salary to $49,000 annually. The agreement also calls for 3% annual pay hikes.
The St. Joseph Police Department has 23 vacancies. The department is authorized for 138 commissioned officers.
Hart says the decisive election results as well as the overall support from St. Joseph residents are important as the department attempts to recruit both new officers and veteran officers, especially in light of national trends perceived as anti-police.
“This is one of the best communities to police in, in my opinion, across the country,” Hart says. “We’ve maintained consistent support from this area through everything that has gone on nationally. We have that support at home and it makes a difference, because we don’t police without the community. We don’t get anything done if we don’t have buy-in from everybody here.”
Hart says the salary bump approved by voters in November has made the St. Joseph Police Department more competitive in recruiting quality candidates.