GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro police need to fill dozens of job openings.
The department has more than 100 vacancies to fill.
To combat a difficult labor market, they're trying something different.
This week, anyone interested in a job can get a peek at GPD's academy.
WFMY News 2's Grace Holland shows you the facilities and found out more about those open positions.
GPD's gun range is closed to the public, but those doors will be open to anyone who visits the police training facility at this open house event.
They want to give recruits a sneak peek at what working with the department is really like.
They'll also get a look at the classroom they'd be training in,
The badges they hope to earn at the end of the course will be displayed on the classroom wall, like those for the September class.
Lieutenant Kory Flowers said GPD's recruiters want to show off what the department has to offer.
“We've got an advantage over most of the agencies in the state as the third largest agency. We've got a lot to offer. Specifically, our training facility. Our police academy on n. Church Street Is in my opinion one of the best buildings we've got. It looks very stereotypically like something you see in a movie in a tv show where the police are trained,” Lieutenant Kory Flowers, with the GPD resource management division, said.
This event comes about a week after Interim Chief, Teresa Biffle, talked about some of the staffing shortages GPD is facing, like many police departments in the area.
She said there are about 122 total vacancies. 108 are sworn officer positions that includes officers who are training or in the academy.
In the meantime, officers from special units are helping fill patrol vacancies.
“Greensboro interim police chief: that means your detectives that are doing follow up on cases. Some of our vice-narcotics that are proactively trying to get drugs off the streets are now having to go into call answer capacities and it's going to take away from some of the follow-up,” Biffle explained.
The department is looking to hire entry-level positions and experienced officers. New officers will go through about nine months of training before starting the job, experienced officers will have a shorter training period. Both are eligible for signing bonuses and other hiring incentives. That's in addition to a seven percent pay increase the city council gave to police in June.
The hiring fair goes from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Police Academy building at 1510 North Church Street. Anyone who's interested in a law enforcement career is invited.