Police departments are relaxing age and fitness standards, forgiving minor criminal convictions and easing other requirements to relieve shortages in their ranks and find officers who are wiser, more worldly and cooler-headed in a crisis.
In recent years, St. Petersburg and Tampa, Fla., dropped the need for a two-year college degree if the candidate has military or law enforcement experience. Oakland, Calif., is no longer disqualifying applicants for minor, long-ago drug convictions or gang involvement. And Boston this spring raised the age limit for recruits from 32 to 40.
“Being well-rounded, having some life experience, makes for a better person and patrolman – someone who is coming up on a conflict who is mature and measured, as opposed to some young kid right out of school,” said Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty.
The change in standards, noted in Associated Press interviews and reviews of policies in 50 cities, has been spurred by a dire need for recruits.
A federally funded study last spring by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington advocacy group for police chiefs and commissioners, found that 10 percent of the nation’s police departments had severe shortages of officers.
New York City is looking to hire 3,000 officers. The Los Angeles Police Department wants 1,000 more cops; Houston needs 600; Washington is short 330.
Among the reasons: The strong economy is offering other job possibilities, aging cops are retiring, starting salaries are low, and the Iraq war is siphoning people to the National Guard and Reserves.
“There’s a real demand for really good people, and there’s a limited supply,” said Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum. “Cities are having to take a second look at their recruitment standards.”
The change in standards also reflects a desire to focus less on push-ups per minute and more on life experience.
Many say older recruits might be less hotheaded and less trigger-happy, and that could mean the difference between escalating or defusing a tense situation.
“There is a movement afoot to focus more on people who are creative problem- solvers,” said Gilbert Moore, spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department.
