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The Grand Rapids Police Department is looking for experienced police officers and academy graduates to help increase the GRPD workforce.

GRPD
GRPD

The Grand Rapids Police Department is looking for experienced police officers and academy graduates to help increase the GRPD workforce. Officials say the need for more officers is growing.

The Grand Rapids Police Department is looking for experienced police officers and academy graduates to help increase the GRPD workforce. Officials say the need for more officers is growing.

“Unfortunately, law enforcement across the country is seeing a crisis as far as recruiting and hiring and retention and unfortunately, GRPD is no different.”

That’s Grand Rapids Police Sergeant Dan Adams. He says the hiring process for

for certified and certifiable police officers is available until September 30. And those selected will start their journey with the department on January 10 of 2022.

“Defintely some people that have experience. Maybe they started in smaller department and want to work in a bigger city. Or maybe, we end up recruiting officers who worked for big cities and they just want the midsize of Grand Rapids and they just fall in love with the city.”

Sgt. Adams says the need for these officers along with officers through their academy is vital.

“We saw in the mid to late 2000’s, that with recession, departments were cutting positions, we went from 400 officers authorized to 297, and when crime was dropping it wasn’t as big of an issue, now we’re seeing crime is ticking back up. We’re seeing record numbers of violent crime, even in our community. Record number of homicides last year. And this is a profession where you can’t hire a couple people and they can hit the street right away.”

Sgt. Adams says they do a well-rounded training period for several months before they any new hires hit the streets. He adds, not only are they recruiting those experienced officers but also for their police academy as well. They are hosting an open house tomorrow for all types of positions from 4-6 pm at Mulick Park.

You can more information on at joingrpd.com

Jennifer is an award winning broadcast news journalist with more than two decades of professional television news experience including the nation's fifth largest news market. She's worked as both news reporter and news anchor for television and radio in markets from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo all the way to San Francisco, California.