Gettysburg Police Chief Robert Glenny said the department was working hard to hire two new cadets, recently approved by the council, and was working with Mayor Frealing to reach out broadly to a diverse applicant pool.
Glenny said the ad for recruits had been posted at 20 colleges that have criminal justice programs within a 2-hour radius of the borough.
“I’m pretty confident we’ll get more applicants than we got last time,” he said.
Glenny said the applications must be received in the borough office or postmarked by April 28.
A difference this year is that the borough is not limiting its search to officers who are already trained as police officers but will pay for the required training and for the cadets’ time while they are enrolled in the course.
The recruitment schedule is compact because the borough wants the two top candidates to enroll in the officer training program offered by HACC which begins on July 1.
Glenny said he hoped to receive at least 10 applications and then move the top 3 candidates forward.
The approved cadets are scheduled to take physical and written exams on May 8 and oral entry exams late in May.
“Somebody should be on board by June 24,” said Glenny.
Glenny said the required officer training is 900 hours over 6 months, followed by a field training program. “They will go out with other officers for the first year,” he said.
Glenny said the presence of new officers would allow the department to be more flexible with scheduling, for instance by allowing more foot, bicycle, and horse-mounted presence. “Positive interactions with the public are very important. People love to see officers on foot and bicycles and horses,” he said.
“We’re trying to get back to the levels of cooperation we had before Covid.” said Glenny.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.
Terrific news!