Come summer, Greenwood’s police force should be fully staffed for the first time in years.
The Greenwood Police Department began accepting applications for lateral transfers Tuesday in an effort to speed up the officer recruitment process and fill a gap in the department that has been there for a few years now, chief James Ison said.
Lateral transfers are officers with experience at another agency who move to a new agency. These experienced officers do not need to go through the 16-week training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy — new officers do — so the hiring process is sped up significantly, something Greenwood needs desperately, Ison said.
The Greenwood Police Department has 63 officers currently — nearly half of where it should be according to agency standards — and there is funding available for eight more. It’s no secret they are short-staffed, an issue for awhile now as the department becomes an "aging agency," with several officers retiring, he said.
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The ongoing coronavirus pandemic worsened the situation. The Academy shuttered for eight weeks in the spring, forcing police agencies to freeze all hiring. The Academy is open again but is backlogged into next year, making it impossible to hire new officers quickly when the training process without a delay takes almost a year to begin with, Ison said.
"It’s a lot different than hiring someone to the street department. By the time we hire someone, it’s almost a year before they are an officer that can be by themselves," he said.
The plan to allow lateral transfers for the first time was put in motion not long after the pandemic hit in the spring and the department needed to find a faster way to bring new officers onboard, Ison said. The Greenwood City Council approved the measure this fall.
Lateral transfers need at least one year of experience to apply for a position at the Greenwood Police Department. The hiring process includes a number of checkpoints such as an agility test, a written test, a lie detector test, background checks, a physical and psychological exam and an interview with the city’s Police Merit Commission. The current application is open until Dec. 31.
Lateral transfers with at least three years of experience will start at $60,000 and make $63,521 after just three months on the job. Those with one to three years of experience will start at $48,618 and make $63,521 after a year on the job.
This change is temporary, and will likely only be used until the eight open positions are filled, Ison said. Then, the department will return to its normal hiring process of accepting applications from anyone, and waiting for those who are selected to complete the necessary training.
Ison’s goal is to have 71 sworn-in officers by next summer, and he hopes the city will allow him to hire more in the near future, he said.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics suggests cities have at least two police officers for every 1,000 residents. That means Greenwood would have to have nearly 120 officers to be considered "fully-staffed," but most cities rarely meet that ratio, Ison said.
"So we’re still about 50 officers short, based on what the bureau recommends. So yes, we could always use more officers," he said.
Reaching that number anytime soon is unlikely, given that Greenwood froze its budget next year as a result of the pandemic, which means no additional positions for the city’s police or fire departments.
