BOSTON — If you know someone looking for work, there is one field that is hiring right now: policing.
Getting on the force takes time, so now we are seeing several police departments looking for a quick fix in something called a lateral transfer. But that sometimes means you are taking from one short-staffed department to help another short-staffed department.
Scrolling through your social media feed, you may start to see more posts like these from police departments in need.
In the last few weeks, we’ve seen posts like these from Barnstable, Salem and Needham, specifically requesting lateral transfers.
MA Major City Chiefs President Brian Kyes said about 11,000 people signed up for civil service this year, which is about half of what it was six years ago. On top of that, departments often deal with injuries, military deployments and retirements.
With recruits drastically decreasing, police are always looking, whether on social media or even at a national night out event.
“I’m kind of shocked when you hear years later, ‘Do you remember the time we met up at national night out and had a conversation? That really inspired me to walk a certain path, and now I’m working in probation parole or I’m an attorney or I’m a police officer,’” Kyes said.
The benefit of a lateral transfer is the officer is already trained; the downside is it doesn’t help the overall problem.
“If you were chief in one department and I’m a chief in another, and I need to take your officers from you or vice versa, so it’s not necessarily the greatest thing,” Kyes said. “I would ask you first because I need your permission as well as mine. Training people, especially people nearby, that is the best way to go.”
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The Municipal Police Training Committee said there are several reasons so many departments are desperate right now. From the social climate to COVID 19 delaying the civil service list by a full year, making it now a three-year wait for departments.
“So, we’re deeper down into the list, and the effort to find qualified candidates to meet the standards of the new police reform legislation that was signed into effect in December of last year, it gets a little more difficult to recruit people,” Kyes said.
Chief Kyes said the lateral transfer is a last resort and a temporary solution.
“It isn’t like tomorrow we can hire somebody,” Kyes said. “It takes a lot of pulling people off a list or a background investigation. The academies are six months long, so if you can get someone from a lateral for a short-term position, that’s why sometimes chiefs will lookout.
The MPTC is finding different ways to bring in more officers. For example, one of the upcoming academies will run at night every other weekend so that recruits will be able to maintain a full-time job and take care of their families while training to be an officer.
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