LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Facing a staffing shortage of just under 300 officers, Louisville Metro Police Department's (LMPD) Recruitment and Selection team is focused on efforts to recruit lateral transfers.
Laterals are officers with at least three years of experience from another department.
Officer Rachel Arroyo Phillips said that means it takes weeks, rather than months, to get them ready for duty.
"With only four weeks of training they'll be on the street and ready to go a lot sooner than a regular recruit would be," she said.
Right now, LMPD is recruiting for a lateral class set to start in April. Officer Tyree Williams said the experience level from those officers shows a firm commitment.
"In that three years you've shown you're dedicated to the department and to the police force as a whole," he said.
Arroyo Phillips added as the department sees veteran officers retire, replacing them with experienced candidates is a way to help younger recruits.
"They can teach younger officers knowledge they don't already have," she said. "A lot of these laterals have lot of years experience under their belt. And they can bring that to our younger officers. And they can learn together."
The team said they are finding officers from across the country; they've had applicants from places like Maryland and Kansas City.
Arroyo Phillips said there is also a candidate from Puerto Rico, part of a new push to serve Louisville's growing Spanish-speaking population.
"For the first time ever, we have a push in Puerto Rico, to attract recruits," she said. "We're running into more Spanish speakers on traffic stops, on runs for service, and there aren't a lot of officers that speak Spanish. It takes a lot of time for officers to respond to a scene with a Spanish speaker, so if we are ahead of it by having officers speak the language, it would make it a whole lot easier."
Officers said bonuses and starting pay coinciding with experience have been helpful in recruiting. They also tell officers from smaller departments about opportunities to work on specialized teams within LMPD like the River Patrol or SWAT.
"That officer from small department will be on patrol likely their entire career, or they won't promote, they won't move around, they're just stuck on patrol, however, LMPD, we have a lot of specialized units," Arroyo Phillips said.
The team is also using social media more, turning to posts on TikTok and a recruitment-specific Facebook page. Williams said it allows them to interact more directly with potential candidates.
"We had an applicant come in from Boston who saw our ad on TikTok," he said. "They get to see us in a more relaxed atmosphere makes them want to be a part of our team."
Williams and Arroyo Phillips said they have about 19 applicants for the upcoming class and noted that's more than in previous years.
"We want people to serve our community, be a part of our community, live within our community as we hire these people," Williams said.
Applications for the next class are open until Jan. 22. It will start on April 17, with another class planned for November.
Class is four weeks for in-state laterals and five weeks for out-of-state laterals. Applicants must have three years of sworn service.
Starting pay is determined by sworn experience and goes as high as $75,852/year if an officer has 10 years of experience or more.
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