PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 16, 2018
RECRUITS: ‘Expectations of
who we hire are going up’
(Continued from Page A1)
which means they should be ready to hit
the streets on patrol around November. It is
hoped that another officer will attend the
April academy.
For most police departments, hiring lat-
erally from other departments is always pre-
ferred to recruiting someone new. The reason
is simple: time. An officer coming from an-
other department has already graduated from
the Oregon Department of Public Safety
Standards and Training (police academy) and
is certified by that agency, or comparable one
in another state, to hit the ground running
after a brief stint with a department training
officer. When a department recruits someone
off the street, it can take up to a year or more
from the time they turn in their application
to being handed the keys for solo duty in a
patrol car.
The first position KPD opened for hir-
ing in November 2017 was for a lateral of-
ficer to work in the department's traffic unit.
Not a single application was received. When
the department opened up recruitment for
a lateral detective the results were almost the
same. The one prime candidate was someone
Kuhns and Teague courted specifically for the
job, but other obligations got in the way.
One of the barriers for Keizer, specifically
from a human resources standpoint, is that the
department is not seen as comparable to areas
like Salem, Eugene, Albany or Portland. Even
Albany is able to make use of hiring resources
with better yield rates than Keizer.
During a recent recruitment push, Albany
had more than 200 applicants, Keizer opened
up recruiting for four positions and got only
36 applications.
Of those 36, only nine passed background,
physical and psychological screenings.
“It's not because they are bad people, they
just didn't fit what we need,” Teague said. “I
don't know why fewer people are interested,
but our expectations of who we hire are going
up. The pool (of applicants) is being worked at
from both ends.”
Teague added that it is a prime time for
those looking to start in law enforcement.
“When Jeff and I were hired it was an us vs.
them and my mentality was there was some-
body doing something wrong and it was my
job to find them and give them a citation or
put them in jail,” he said. “These days it is
about public safety and making people's lives
better. For an officer to start now, they will be
on the leading edge of those changes.”
In addition to the four reserve officers
heading to the academy this month, the de-
partment is hoping to send another officer –
one paid for by the services fee – in April.
That is a monumental sea change within
KPD. The department will still be short one
officer due to a recent retirement.
“I can't remember the last time we sent
four officers to the academy together. I can't
remember the last time we sent two at a time,”
Kuhns said.
While the situation worked out well for
the department as far as hiring from within
their own ranks in the Reserve Officer pro-
gram, that same program is now down to one
officer. In addition, there are approximately a
half-dozen current officers at KPD contem-
plating retirement. That is the hallmark of an-
other major change.
“We're getting to be like other agencies
where we are recruiting all the time,” Kuhns
said.
Drawing on new recruits will mean ma-
jor reshuffling of the current KPD roster at
some point in the next year. The new officers
will start on patrol, while current officers will
have the opportunity to apply for roles within
the Community Response Unit (CRU), de-
tective squad, traffic unit, and night shift. To
make-up for the unexpected slow-down in
hiring, KPD has reassigned a member of it's
CRU to the traffic patrol.
“We understand that people want traf-
fic worked and I've been reassured by Sgt.
(Bob) Trump that there hasn't been any nega-
tive impact,” Teague said. Trump oversees the
CRU team.
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Two sought in armed robbery
Keizer police officers are
looking for two individuals in
connection with an armed rob-
bery at Cooper’s Deli on Friday,
March 9.
About 2:26 a.m., two male
suspects entered the shop, locat-
ed at 5408 River Road North,
armed with a handgun and
demanding cash. The men ob-
tained an undisclosed amount of
cash and cigarettes and fled the
scene before police could arrive.
The first suspect was de-
scribed as a white male, 20-30
years old, medium to heavy
build and wearing a gray coat
with dark sleeves, dark pants and
a gray bandana over his face. He
carried a silver handgun during
the robbery.
The second suspect was de-
scribed as a white male, about
20 years old and weighing about
150 pounds. He wore a gray
jacket with a hood, blue jeans,
a gray cloth coving his mouth,
gloves and white shoes with red
laces.
Anyone with information
should contact Det. Tim Lath-
rop at 503-856-3481.
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Two men, one armed with a
handgun, robbed Cooper’s
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