‘The pool now is a puddle’: Quincy Police Department trying new ways to attract applicants

QUINCY — Ever wanted to be a police officer?

Adam Yates says the time has never been better.

Yates, a deputy chief, is searching for possible recruits to apply for positions within the Quincy Police Department. A simple two-page application must be filled out by Nov. 30. A physical agility test is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 18 at the Quincy University Health and Fitness Center. A written test will be taken at 1 p.m. at the Quincy Regional Training Facility. 

The National Police Foundation reported in 2020 that 86 percent of police departments nationwide are experiencing a shortage of officers. Hiring for officers is on a five-year decline. Figures provided by the Quincy Police Department show only 20 people applied for a job as a police officer in 2020. The number of applicants has been below 40 for the past five years.

“The pool of applicants has been drying up for years,” Yates said. “The joke is that the pool now is a puddle. We have to do everything we can to cultivate as much talent as we can. The number of people who want to get into the career is getting smaller, and it’s getting tougher to fill positions with quality people.

Rather than wait for applicants to show an interest, Yates says the department is reaching out. One way to get experienced applicants is offering lateral entry.

The starting salary for a police officer in Quincy is approximately $54,000. However, a police officer with at least two years at another agency who wants to work in Quincy would be started at the salary as a Quincy police officer with the same number of years of experience (up to five years).

“It’s advantageous to the officer, because obviously they get a higher salary coming on board with us,” Yates said. “But it’s also advantageous to us because we don’t have to pay for the academy training. They generally go through the field training program fairly quickly, because we don’t have to teach them how to be the police. We just had to teach them how to be a Quincy police officer.”

Yates said another added benefit of lateral entries is those people already have been in the police business and know they want to be in the profession. Yates says the department encourages officers from other agencies to apply.

“Everyone is a recruiter in my mind,” he said. “If you see an officer who is doing a good job for their agency, we encourage our people to say, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about maybe coming to a bigger agency?’ Focusing efforts when the officers are having one-on-one conversations with officers from other agencies is part of the two-pronged approach that we’re using.”

QPD also is advertising openings on police1.com, an online resource for law enforcement, and on the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police website.

“We’re getting the word out as much as we can,” Yates said.

A Quincy police officer must live within Adams County. The Quincy Workforce Relocation Assistance Program that was approved by the City Council in August offers either a $5,000 property tax rebate if someone buys a house or $3,500 in rental assistance if they move to Quincy. 

To become a police officer, an applicant must be 21 years old and a U.S. citizen with a high school diploma.

“We will teach you,” Yates said. “We will train you, we will equip you, and we will do everything in our power to make you a successful police officer.”

Applicants must graduate from the police academy and the field training officer program before becoming eligible to work for the police department. The process usually takes between nine to 12 months.

“You don’t have to be a physical specimen by any means, but you have to be physically fit,” Yates said, “You have to be able to communicate. “You have to be able to talk to all sorts of people. Empathy is a huge thing in law enforcement. We don’t need people who are just wanting to go out and crack skulls and chase people down. We need folks who are generally interested in helping people in the community and in keeping the community safe.”

Yates says the physical agility test is essentially a “pass/fail” test. If a candidate runs a mile and a half in 13 minutes and 37 seconds, they pass. How a candidate does on the written test will determine where how interested the police department is.

“If you score a 75, you’ll be lower on the list than someone who scores a 90,” Yates said. “Maybe if after we hire several people, we might give consideration to that person who scores a 75.”

Yates hopes 50 people show up for the Dec. 18 training exercise. QPD now has four openings on its staff.

“The list that we had been working off of is gone. We have wiped out all of our eligible candidates. That’s why we’re doing the testing,” Yates said. 

Officers looking for a lateral transfer to the police department don’t have to wait for Dec. 18.

Yates, 45, got his first job with QPD when he was 23. He is well aware of the negative image projected on law enforcement in recent years.

“The less than one percent of police officers who give the rest of us a bad name, we don’t want them in law enforcement either,” he said. “Nobody hates bad cops more than good cops. Law enforcement is still a noble profession is because it’s an important profession. Public safety for a community has to be one of its highest priorities.

“I say to anyone who wants to get into law enforcement that if you want to work for a community that supports its first responders, its police officers and firefighters, Quincy’s a great community to work for. This community has always been so supportive. You can see what’s going on across the nation, and you can be deterred by that. It can be frustrating. It is hard. And at times, it’s dangerous.

“I say to look to where you’re at, and you realize that we work for a great community. We need men and women who are driven to do good in the community to get into law enforcement. This is where I grew up. This town means everything to me. It’s a great place to live. It’s a great place to be the police, and we need people to come here and help us carry on tradition.”