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When it comes to safety on the streets, it's no easy task especially if there are not enough officers on the ground.If you've ever thought about joining the Cincinnati Police Department, the time is now. Saturday is the deadline to get your application in for the next year's recruitment class. "I never thought 33 years later I'd be sitting here, and it started with an application process," said Teresa Theetge, interim police chief for Cincinnati Police Department. Theetge says one of the first responsibilities of a law enforcement agency is answering calls for service, but not having enough resources makes that duty difficult. "You really have to be passionate about what you're doing if you want to be a public servant, and I will say the city of Cincinnati is an excellent place to be a public servant," she said. Citing hard times like the pandemic and civil unrest, she says is making recruitment difficult, a time for law enforcement no one had ever experienced, including herself. "I think, in this country, law enforcement is looked at a little differently than it was years ago. Whether or not we are appreciated or if people recognize the value of the work that we do. I think some of that is misleading to some of the people who are thinking about taking the test," said Theetge. "I think the last couple of years has been extremely hard on law enforcement we had a pandemic we had civil unrest countrywide, which we had never seen before, and so and those two things back to back and actually overlapping civil unrest with the pandemic and this is a time in law enforcement that nobody had experienced in their career before."This time around, the department is offering two recruitment classes a year to catch up. Hoping once hired, they will stay the minimum of 25 years, knowing there is room for promotion."Maybe somebody thinks, 'I want to be a homicide investigator someday. What can I do now, early in my career, to help me get there?' We are happy to have those discussions," she said. Theetge also understands having boots on the ground goes hand in hand with stopping crime."If you really want to impact violent crime, you have to do more than just answer calls for service you have to implement strategies," Theetge said. Adding community involvement on a higher level is something that can be done while policing, she said."Getting to the youth early and trying to help guide them to stay on the right path is very, very critical. We do a lot of work, we have cadet programs, intern programs," she said. The department previously signed a 30/30 initiative aiming to have 30 percent women policing by 2030. Cincinnati is already at 22.5%, higher than the national average. "There is talent in Cincinnati. Talent that they, being other organizations, should try to pursue, and I think that speaks to why I always say this unit is unique. CPD is so unique, the city of Cincinnati is so unique. We are steps ahead of other organizations across this country in their police-community partnerships. One reason is our historical collaborative agreement. We were the first ones to have something like that, so its a lot of things going on here in Cincinnati that I think sometimes we as a city take for granted," she said. If you want to apply, click here.The deadline to apply is Saturday, Nov. 5.
When it comes to safety on the streets, it's no easy task especially if there are not enough officers on the ground.
If you've ever thought about joining the Cincinnati Police Department, the time is now. Saturday is the deadline to get your application in for the next year's recruitment class.
"I never thought 33 years later I'd be sitting here, and it started with an application process," said Teresa Theetge, interim police chief for Cincinnati Police Department.
Theetge says one of the first responsibilities of a law enforcement agency is answering calls for service, but not having enough resources makes that duty difficult.
"You really have to be passionate about what you're doing if you want to be a public servant, and I will say the city of Cincinnati is an excellent place to be a public servant," she said.
Citing hard times like the pandemic and civil unrest, she says is making recruitment difficult, a time for law enforcement no one had ever experienced, including herself.
"I think, in this country, law enforcement is looked at a little differently than it was years ago. Whether or not we are appreciated or if people recognize the value of the work that we do. I think some of that is misleading to some of the people who are thinking about taking the test," said Theetge. "I think the last couple of years has been extremely hard on law enforcement we had a pandemic we had civil unrest countrywide, which we had never seen before, and so and those two things back to back and actually overlapping civil unrest with the pandemic and this is a time in law enforcement that nobody had experienced in their career before."
This time around, the department is offering two recruitment classes a year to catch up. Hoping once hired, they will stay the minimum of 25 years, knowing there is room for promotion.
"Maybe somebody thinks, 'I want to be a homicide investigator someday. What can I do now, early in my career, to help me get there?' We are happy to have those discussions," she said.
Theetge also understands having boots on the ground goes hand in hand with stopping crime.
"If you really want to impact violent crime, you have to do more than just answer calls for service you have to implement strategies," Theetge said.
Adding community involvement on a higher level is something that can be done while policing, she said.
"Getting to the youth early and trying to help guide them to stay on the right path is very, very critical. We do a lot of work, we have cadet programs, intern programs," she said.
The department previously signed a 30/30 initiative aiming to have 30 percent women policing by 2030. Cincinnati is already at 22.5%, higher than the national average.
"There is talent in Cincinnati. Talent that they, being other organizations, should try to pursue, and I think that speaks to why I always say this unit is unique. CPD is so unique, the city of Cincinnati is so unique. We are steps ahead of other organizations across this country in their police-community partnerships. One reason is our historical collaborative agreement. We were the first ones to have something like that, so its a lot of things going on here in Cincinnati that I think sometimes we as a city take for granted," she said.
If you want to apply, click here.
The deadline to apply is Saturday, Nov. 5.
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