CLEVELAND — This weekend, there is an all-out effort to bridge the hiring gap and address the city of Cleveland police staffing shortages head-on.
The Cleveland Police Department is hosting a multi-day expedited hiring event to lock in the next class of recruits.
The department currently sits at roughly 1,130 officers for a budgeted 1,350 spots.
That's 83% staffed or about a 17% officer shortage.
Nationwide—departments are struggling to find officers for the job.
The three-day long weekend event is dubbed a "one-stop-shop" for potentially landing a job as a Cleveland police officer.
It promises to shave off upwards of five months of an applicant's time—streamlining the traditional hiring process.
"(The) Ideal candidate is someone who's passionate about engaging in the community, someone who wants to make a difference. We do love Cleveland natives, but there are no restrictions," said Mark Maguth, Cleveland Police commander of the Bureau of Support Services.
Cleveland City Hall will host hundreds of potential future police officers as part of the expedited hiring event.
It comes on the heels of the 2023 event, which officials say garnered success.
"(The) 2023 event, we had over 300 candidates come down and go through that process over that weekend and over 200 some received pre-contractual officers that weekend," said Det. Felton Collier with the Cleveland Police Recruitment Unit.
Cleveland police confirm that 200 went through the actual process—which was then narrowed to the class of 52 cadets that started earlier this year.
Cleveland Police Commander Mark Maguth and Collier both joined the Cleveland Police Department back in 2008 and noticed a seismic shift in overall interest.
"When we took it—there were over 4,000 people who came down, came down to Public Hall, sat in a room with tables, chairs all through Public Hall," Collier said.
With times rapidly evolving in the law enforcement field, they say an expedited hiring process was necessary.
"People want a job, and they don't want to wait four, five, six months for it. Our traditional process when I was hired on—I waited over a year," Maguth said.
Maguth says a person could technically come in off the street without even pre-registering and then fill out an application at this event if they wanted to.
However, he advises interested applicants to register online.
"We can condense this down into one day. Where we can have individuals come down, complete an application, complete national testing network, a written exam as well as a complete physical exam," Maguth said.
An in-depth background check and medical and psychological exams follow.
A pre-conditional offer is next if you get the green light and pass.
Maguth and Collier stress that it will remain detailed despite this quicker hiring process.
"We're not cutting quality of them. We're just making the entry point a lot shorted, I'd say," Maguth said.
Applicants should plan on carving out at least four to six hours and dress in athletic attire.
If all goes well, it's on to the next round, and you will become part of the academy this December.
"We didn't want people to have to sit in limbo and wait for those phone calls to come in," Maguth said.
The Cleveland Police Expedited Hiring event is set for Sept. 13-15 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cleveland City Hall. You must be between the ages of 21-54 years old. You must bring a valid form of ID or drivers license. Wear workout clothes as the physical fitness test requires you to do push-ups, sit-ups and run 1.5 miles.
Your times and how you rank are based upon age and gender groupings.
CLICK HERE for more information. If you have additional questions, contact Det. Collier at 216-623-5233.
The starting salary is $62,600 with a $5,000 sign-on bonus.
In June, we reported that city records show 13 Cleveland police officers left the department in May, including two cadets from the 155th police academy class, which started this spring.
RELATED: 13 officers left the Cleveland police department in May, including 2 cadets
