ENON — There are little to no new applicants for police departments to hire.
This is leading to officers being spread thin and coming up with ways to try and get people interested in law enforcement.
News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott sat down with a police chief who shared the struggle to find new recruits.
Enon Police Chief Mike Holler said it pains him to see the way nearly no one is joining his profession.
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“We’re a skeleton crew. I’m I have a full-time opening,” Holler said. “The full-time spot has been open for at least six months.”
Holler said it pains him to see the way nearly no one is joining his profession.
“It’s really frustrating. It’s concerning. I need people. That’s what hurts,” Holler said.
His officers are spread thin.
“It takes everybody to pull in,” he said. “It’s stressful. I mean, it’s time-consuming.”
In order to get new people into a uniform, Holler needs applicants, but the few that exist are taking other offers.
“The pay increases are ridiculous,” he said.
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Holler has brought up pay as well but still needs to compete with local agencies— Cincinnati and Columbus departments.
“Even the agencies that pay really well are struggling to find people work,” he said.
He has some theories as to why people no longer want a badge.
“I don’t know if it was during COVID people were able to maybe work from home telework. That’s a popular thing, or couple of years ago there was some negative media about law enforcement,” Holler said. “I don’t know. I wish I knew.”
Leaving people in the community wondering what will happen when current officers retire.
“I think about my grandchildren. And my kids like you know, we still need officers. We need them. We still have crime. Crime is everywhere. Crime is growing. You know, we need them,” Crystal Moore told News Center 7.
The applicant pool is so low, that Holler said some classes in the academy have had to be canceled because there’s just no one in the room.
Holler said there is a night class in the academy that could not run because they didn’t have the minimum of ten people.
To put that in perspective, when Holler was applying as a rookie he said he had to compete with at least 250 people for one job posting.
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