By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The Jacksonville Police Department has made a fundamental change in its hiring practices.

Departmental policy previously dictated JPD only hired officers who had already completed a police academy and who were already certified with the state.

“Until now we only hired people who were already certified and licensed by the state as peace officers, which you might expect really limits the pool of applicants. By making this change we can expand the applicant pool dramatically,” JPD Chief Reece Daniel said Monday.

Daniel said. “The applicants are going to go through everything that they would have gone through before — the background checks, the psychological profile, the drug tests, all the regularly vetting — but this way we get to guide them through the beginning of their training.”

Daniel said the problem with only hiring certified peace officers is that it often leads to hiring other departments’ problems.

“There just aren’t too many certified officers out there who are moving around for anything other than bad reasons. I’ve seen people move for more money, for a larger department or for better opportunities, but a lot of them are just moving because they are trying to stay ahead of a disciplinary action,” he said.

By hiring prior to training, Daniel said people who would otherwise not be able to afford it will be able to attend a police academy.

“Before, they had to support themselves and also pay for the academy. Now we are going to give them a living wage and we are going to put them through the academy,” he said. “This change really opens things up for female and minority applicants, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to support themselves and pay for the academy.”

Hired applicants will be paid $28,800 a year while they are being trained. Upon completion of their training, their wage will increase to $31,000. Police academy lasts for 16 weeks. Those applicants who complete the academy will then begin JPD’s 17-week field training program.

“Another positive aspect of this change is that there is a grant out there that pays 90 percent of the cost of the schooling, so the only thing that we will be out is their salary while they are at the academy,” Daniel said. “By investing in them, I think it makes them more loyal to the department and more likely for them to stay with us.”

With four positions currently unstaffed, Daniel hopes increasing the applicant pool will increase the odds of finding worthy employees.

“We would really like to see some local people apply who live in Jacksonville who want to help their community. It seems to work well when you can find people with ties to the community,” he said. “It would also be great if we could hire some people who speak Spanish or if we could hire some women or minorities, but the bottom line is that we are going to hire the best qualified applicants — regardless of the other aspects.”

The new minimum qualifications are:

• must be 21 years of age or older;

• have no felony conviction on their record;

• have no conviction for any offense above a class-C misdemeanor in the last ten years;

• have a valid Texas driver’s license;

• be eligible to own a firearm under all state and federal laws;

• have no conviction for a family violence offense or be subject to a protective order;

• be of good moral character and suited for law enforcement; and

• have a high school diploma OR a GED with at least 12 semester hours of college credit with at least a 2.0 average from an accredited college OR a GED with two years of active military service and an honorable discharge.

“I think this is definitely a step forward for the city. It allows us to gather a lot more applications, and it let’s us train our employees our way — when they finish training they will be a full-fledged Jacksonville police officer, not just someone we’ve hired from somewhere else,” Daniel said. “I’m really excited about this and I think it’s a big plus foe this department and for the city.”