The City of Hartford's police department is short on officers. As one way to try and fix the problem, the department is now opening a two-week application process just for city residents.
Mayor Luke Bronin said he wanted to hire 45 officers last fall. But hiring cops can be difficult and time consuming. When all of the tests were done, he only got 16 officers into the academy that started last week; only three were city residents.
So now he's trying again to get just city residents through the door, which is open until March 15th. The point is to hire more officers committed to law enforcement, and to have the department be more representative of the community it serves.
“What we want to do is have the opportunity to do a more focused test, a more focused recruitment process in a short window, so that we could bring in those Hartford residents who’ve expressed an interest," Bronin said. "Get it done, try to get them through the process, so that we can have them on the list when we’re at the point of bringing the next class on.”
Applicants will take a series of tests including written, physical, and lie detector. Bronin said he hopes to have his next class by the summer -- when he expects the number of sworn officers to be even lower than it is now.
