Stockton Police Adding 38 To Force
STOCKTON (CBS13) - Stockton is hiring 38 police officers for open positions that were suspended when the economy tanked.
Now because some officers have moved on to other departments or retired, new positions along with training are available .
Matthew Lora is one of the hundreds of police officer hopefuls vying for one of the 38 positions. The 21-year-old Sonora man works as a firefighter intern, and now is chasing his dream of becoming a police officer.
And what better place to clean up crime than Stockton? The city's murder rate reached an all time high last year with 58 killings.
"I like that fact of it though, it excites me," he said of the dangers of the job. "If you are going to do it, do it big."
Most of the applicants have zero training and come from all walks of life.
"It's a financial commitment from the city to pay these people to go through the academy and come back and work the streets," department spokesman Officer Pete Smith said.
More than half of the openings are already budgeted to fill the 345-person police force. Grant money will pay for the rest.
After a few years of brutal cuts, and failed labor negotiations, some police officers packed up and moved to other law enforcement agencies for better benefits and lighter work loads, making room for new men and women to jump start a career in law enforcement.
"You get young people in there that are excited about doing this job and start availing them of the training experience," Smith said.
The candidates will find out in about a month who were accepted into the academy. From there, it's about another year before they're ready to hit the streets.
