In an effort to expand its hiring pool, a Colorado police department has dropped its college requirement for prospective officers.
The Colorado Springs Police Department is now accepting applicants with only a high school diploma or a GED, KRDO-TV reports. Officer candidates had been required to have an associate degree or 60 hours of college credit.
The new requirement was approved last week by the Civil Service Commission. Ira Cronin, a police spokesman, told KRDO that the change is an effort for the department to stay competitive with other agencies, such as the Denver and Pueblo police departments, which only require a high school diploma.
"I think times have changed since, and we wanted to remove that barrier, especially," said Cronin. "There are so many qualified folks who maybe are coming out of the military. They've got the life experience that they need."
Cronin added that the college requirement is the only applicant qualification that has changed. The physical fitness requirements for applicants remain the same, and recruits must still graduate the department's 30-week academy and train in the field for 15 weeks before becoming officers.
"We're still going to throw you into the same rigorous process," said Cronin. "And, you know, you've got the background check and all that other stuff. But yeah, we hope this will open it up to more people to apply and make that pool of people larger so that we can get the best officers on the street."
The Colorado Springs Police Department currently has nearly 775 officer, but it's budgeted for 839. Given the city's growth, Cronin said that department officials believe the agency should ideally have close to 1,000 officers.
Applications for the department's next recruiting class close May 3.
