CLEVELAND — The nationwide struggle to find new police officers continues to affect parts of Northeast Ohio, so much so that the Cleveland Division of Police is hosting another "expedited hiring event" to beef up its force, taking the early parts of the application process that could take weeks to complete and condensing it into one day.
The event is scheduled for Sept. 13, 14, and 15 at Cleveland City Hall from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. each day. The department's first expedited hiring event was in December 2023, and Sergeant Freddy Diaz says more than 300 people showed up with 52 of those making it into the following cadet academy.
Those that show up next will fill out their applications, take a written exam, do a physical fitness assessment, and go through a preliminary background check in a single day. If everything checks out, they will leave that day with a pre-conditional offer, meaning they'll be placed in the upcoming cadet training class assuming they pass a future medical and psychological exam.
According to Diaz, the expedited hiring event shortens the entire hiring process from four or five months to about two months.
"It felt that candidates were kind of getting discouraged with the waiting process of waiting to get called back," he explained. "So we said, 'Let's figure out a way so we can eliminate steps that we can do on one day,' so then hopefully minimize the waiting time for someone that's interested in joining the Division of Police."
Cleveland's police force is only 83% staffed right now, budged for 1,350 officers but only having approximately 1,121 employed at this time. They're also expecting some officers to be retiring, as well.
All of this is why Diaz tells 3News it's critical for them to continuously be hiring. Their hope is to host three cadet academy classes this year. The current class that began in March started with 52 cadets, but is now down to 41.
While that is up from the lows of other recent classes, we asked Diaz why so many candidates dropped out.
"Like any profession, folks go in there thinking maybe this is something for them, and as they progress, they realize maybe it's not necessarily for them," he answered. "So it's like someone that goes to college. You go to college, you're like, 'I want to do this.' And then when you get there, 'This is not what I thought it was going to be, so I changed my mind. I want to do something else.'"
Diaz noted that those hired from this September's expedited hiring event are anticipated to start in the December cadet academy and make $25 per hour. The starting salary for cadets that complete the academy is $62,651.29, with a signing bonus of up to $5,000.
For questions about the event, you can contact Detective Felton Collier at (216) 623-5233 or FCollier2@clevelandohio.gov.