“Policing is a noble profession, dedicated to the service of others. Police officers with the Springfield Police Division have been serving this community for over 150 years – this is a rewarding and challenging career,” said Chief Lee Graf. “We are looking for people who meet the job qualifications, but who also possess strength of character and a commitment to serve faithfully, and with fairness.”
Springfield police try to bolster staffing despite national shortage
Springfield police are aiming to hire 10 positions and starting salary is more than $45,000.
The Springfield Police Division re-released a promotional video that can be viewed on the division’s Facebook encouraging residents to consider a job in law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Clark County Sheriff Deb Burchett said her office is looking to hire eight to ten new deputies to start working the jail.
“We are always hiring,” she said. “Anyone that wants to apply is encouraged to do so.”
Burchett said most candidates who apply for a job at her office already have training and a law enforcement certificate of training. However, many of the candidates that apply can’t pass a background check, a polygraph, a physical or the interview portion of the application process.
“A big problem is we may have 20 applications, but by the time we weed out their history, we may be down to four,” she said.
Then, another issue the Clark County Sheriff’s Office faces is officers leaving before they even begin to work at the office. Burchett said the starting salary for a deputy is $18 an hour in Clark County. When a person is newly hired, they are required to undergo an eight-week training period before they begin to work in the jail.
But a lot of times, those deputies that finish their training have found better-paying work elsewhere.
And even if they do stay past the first two months, deputies might not be there for long.
“Sometimes they leave us before the year is even up,” Burchett said.
She said some other agencies in bigger cities like Dayton and Columbus pay upwards of $25 to $30 an hour.
A possible reason why newly hired Clark County deputies are finding better-paying work elsewhere easily is because of a national shortage in police officers, according to the bureau of justice statistics.
The report released late last year show there were about 700,000 police officers across the country in 2016 — the most recent data available. That’s about 23,000 fewer than in 2013, according to the report. The shortage is more serious when population growth is considered.
According to the report, there used to be about 2.42 officers per thousand residents 20 years ago. Now, it’s down to 2.1 per thousand residents.
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Graff said that hiring qualified police officers is tougher now than it was in the past. Candidates interested in working for the Springfield Police must be at least 21 years old at the time of swearing-in, be a high school graduate or equivalent, have 20/20 corrected vision, have weight proportional to height, and possess the overall ability to sufficiently perform all of the essential functions of the position.
Candidates must complete approximately 36 weeks of academic, physical, and hands-on training, including approximately 17 weeks of basic police officer’s training in an academy setting, six weeks of in-house divisional training in Springfield, and 13 weeks of field training on the streets.
Check out the city’s website at springfieldohio.gov for applications.
10- positions the Springfield Police Division is trying to hire
$45,801 - starting yearly salary for Springfield police
8-10 — deputies needed at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office
$18 an hour- starting salary for a Clark County Deputy.
701,000: Number of sworn police officers in America as of 2016
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