The Portage Police Merit Board hopes to recruit officers from other departments to fill several open positions this summer.
The board voted Monday to waive the physical agility and written tests for candidates already certified from a state-accredited police academy, member Brendan Clancy said.
It’s not without precedent, Police Chief Michael Candiano explained, even though it was referred to as an emergency hiring procedure. “We have done these in the past and many departments do them relatively often,” he said.
“We are looking for Indiana Law Enforcement Academy graduates who are looking to switch departments or may have briefly left law enforcement for some reason and are looking to return,” Candiano said.
Hiring trained officers saves at least 15 weeks and gets them to work faster.
“The major difference between this and a normal process is we are waiving the written and physical tests,” he said. “If someone is an academy graduate, they have already passed these tests and many others.”
Candiano has often brought officers to City Council meetings to be sworn in. “We have been in a constant hiring process for approximately two years, due to a large number of retirements, people leaving law enforcement, etc.,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have had difficulty getting the applicants. We still currently have four openings.”
Portage offers a $60,079.49 salary for patrol officers, but officers with three or more years of municipal law enforcement experience might qualify for a starting salary of $68,453.31.
That’s an improvement from past years when salaries weren’t as competitive, Clancy said.
Candiano hopes officers elsewhere might want to consider a bigger department, one offering better benefits and one closer to home. And, of course, he hopes they’ll find that in Portage.
“I think the bigger story is how difficult is it to find people interested in doing this job now,” he said. “Our number of applicants has dropped drastically over the last few years. This is a pretty big problem nationally.”
Application packets are available at the Portage police station on Central Avenue until 3 p.m. on Sept. 13. Hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. A packet can be emailed; call (219) 762-3122.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.