Local law enforcement agencies increase recruitment as vacancies persist - Idaho State Journal

The Idaho State Police are upping their trooper recruiting efforts in response to a significant number of longtime vacancies that have the potential to hinder the force’s response times and manpower in the field.

Cpl. Travis Gurney, who has taken on the role of recruiting for the local state police district, said ISP is hosting a rare recruitment open house this Saturday with the hope of attracting applicants to fill several trooper spots.

The open house will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Idaho State Police District 5 office at 5255 S. Fifth Ave. in Pocatello.

Nearly half off all trooper positions between Blackfoot and Pocatello in ISP’s District 5 are open. The area is supposed to have 16 troopers, but there are currently only nine — a deficit Gurney called concerning for the public and for trooper safety as they patrol the roadways and respond to incidents.

ISP has not in recent memory had to recruit so actively, according to Gurney, who said he could speculate but couldn’t say exactly what’s driving this shortage in applicants to ISP and other law enforcement agencies.

“It’s hard now to get people excited about a career in law enforcement,” he said. “But we’re trying to increase the amount of recruitment we’re doing and the applicants we’re getting by just increasing the amount of people we’re in contact with and trying to get out there and spread the word more.”

Law enforcement agencies across Idaho and the country are experiencing similar challenges to that of ISP’s Pocatello area district when it comes to recruiting qualified applicants. In Idaho Falls, the city’s police department is getting far fewer applicants than it used to, making hiring more difficult.

“Ten to 20 years ago, you could put your posting out and maybe give people a week’s notice and you’d still have 300 to 500 people show up to test,” said Jessica Clements, spokesperson for Idaho Falls Police Department. “Now, we get maybe 20 applicants to fill eight positions and most of them aren’t qualified. The challenge then is we can’t lower our standards to hire them.”

While this problem is not new and has been prevalent across police agencies within the last decade, local governments and law enforcement leaders are newly having to get creative in order to retain and recruit officers.

Clements said part of the problem in East Idaho is that local police agencies like Idaho Falls and the Pocatello Police Department are having to compete not only with each other, but also with agencies in larger cities that can offer attractive signing bonuses and higher pay for their officers.

“IFPD is hiring, so is Bonneville County, so is Pocatello and so is ISP. Everyone’s hiring,” she said. “We all support one another and we’re in this together, but at the same time we’re also competing for the same applicants, which just makes it that much more important for us to be able to be competitive when it comes to compensation for officers.”

Clements said everything is on the table right now as IFPD weighs what strategies it can employ to fill the seven officer openings it currently has.

In Pocatello, Gurney said with half of the area’s trooper force nonexistent, his hope for Saturday’s recruitment event is to attract at least one person.

“We’re feeling the fact that we’re down several spots here in Pocatello, and with all these spots open, we want to fill them,” Gurney said. “I’m optimistic about the open house. If I get one person to show up, that’s a positive return and a good turnout because one person was interested in us.”

IFPD is also planning a recruiting event that’s been tentatively set for March 9. Clements said the event will likely be open house-style, where people can come ask questions about the department and learn about opportunities.

Whether people are right to be concerned about pursuing law enforcement as a career in the current environment, Clements said police agencies acknowledge that being in law enforcement in any capacity is a difficult job.

“Are there challenges to being a law enforcement officer in 2020, 2022? Absolutely,” she said. “But it is still very much an awesome career, and it is one of the few careers that exists where every day you have an opportunity to make a positive impact on people’s lives in the community you serve.”

From Boise to Bonneville County, the circumstances are the same, with law enforcement officer openings to fill and barely anyone seeking to fill them.

“Recruiting, hiring, training is a never-ending process for police departments around the state and around the country,” Clements said. “There’s a lot more effort that has to go into that process now than necessarily did years ago. But we’re committed to that process because more police officers and more dispatchers means there’s more that we can do for the community.”

source: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/local-law-enforcement-agencies-increase-recruitment-as-vacancies-persist/article_fe869437-34e2-5e00-b068-ca281b912a35.html

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