GLADSTONE, Mo. — The Gladstone Police Department is currently grappling with a significant shortage of police officers, a challenge that local officials are addressing with innovative strategies.
Chief of Police Fred Farris, who has served in law enforcement for over 30 years, noted that the department's struggles reflect trends seen across the nation.
"I think we're pretty consistent with what most agencies across the country are seeing," Farris said.
Farris says the past few years have been particularly challenging for law enforcement. He pointed to several contributing factors, including civil unrest, the impact of COVID-19, and broader staffing shortages in the job market.
"I think all those things have contributed to really just even the desire to do this job," Farris said.
In response, the city has approved a market adjustment to increase salaries in an effort to maintain competitiveness with other law enforcement agencies. The starting salary for non-certified officers has been raised to just over $52,000, while certified officers will now begin at approximately $57,000.
Farris emphasized a proactive approach to recruitment and training. This week, the department announced that it will now hire people as young as 19 to begin training towards being officers while working in other capacities.
"What we're going to do is try to hire people a little bit sooner and train them in-house," Farris said. "Using them for things like maintaining our detention facility, walking reports, a variety of other things that we can work on for that one or two years, while we're getting them ready for the academy. And hopefully we’ll have a bigger pool to draw from as we are filling vacancies.”
To achieve full staffing levels, the department requires 48 officers, and officials are optimistic that the new strategies will help them reach that goal.
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