MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Businesses are hurting for workers, and the Memphis Police Department is one of them.
Now MPD is hoping to hire 300 officers to go through the Academy and hit the streets, and a Career Expo happening this Saturday is a big part of that. Applications will be accepted on site and physical awareness tests will be given.
“We are not immune just as some of the other agencies in our area, actually throughout the nation,” Lt. Colonel Sharon Cunningham said. “We will have the opportunity to offer candidates a $15,000 sign-on bonus and well as a $10,000 relocation.”
The 54 semester hours of college that was initially needed has now been reduced to 24 hours, and prior work history counts.
“We are not lowering our standards at all,” Cunningham said. “We still have our mandates they must adhere to as far as post commission is concerned.”
Those officers will work to reduce the city’s shootings and homicide numbers, such as the Young Dolph case where MPD says its officers worked tirelessly to solve the murder case.
“It is crucial for us to have the officers to get to the calls, to get set up, to do the crime scene management,” Cunningham said.
Memphis Police is recruiting around the country and trying to retain officers who are wooed by other municipalities.
“We are countering that with showing the attractiveness of the Memphis Police Department with those incentives like college tuition reimbursement and the different positions an officers is able to apply for once they are on the job,” Cunningham said.
The Memphis Police Department’s Career Expo is this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 170 North Main Street.
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