By Sarah Roebuck
Police1
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Capitol Police added five new recruits from the first class of officers hired through a recruitment program, WHTM reports.
The new recruitment program allows those interested in becoming an officer to attend the academy for six months but on a salary. Capitol Police cover the fees of basic training, equipment and other costs incurred in the hiring process.
“Everybody’s having the same issue, it’s getting qualified candidates for the positions a lot of people for what’s going on today. A lot of people are not choosing law enforcement as a career so we need to change that. We need to get close to what our community is,” Joseph Jacob, Superintendent of Pennsylvania’s Capitol Police Department, told WHTM.
Jacob said the program has made recruiting easier.
“It’s a good feeling, we’ve had a large void unfortunately right now and to have this program start as successful as it did and to add five new officers to our complement right away, and have four more in the academy right now, it goes a long way to help refill replenishing the ranks.”
The next group is already enrolled in the academy. Applications for the next class in January are filling up fast. For more information, click here.