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Now Hiring: Bangor Police Department is looking for you

The department is currently down seven positions and is working to recruit back up to a full staff of 84 sworn officers.

BANGOR (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- The third-largest police department in the state wants you to know: it's hiring.

The Bangor Police Department is actively looking for men and women, nearby or "from away,” to join its team.

The department is currently down 7 positions, and it's working to recruit back up to a full staff of 84 sworn officers.

"Right now, we're looking to put three officers in the academy that starts in just a couple of weeks and the next academy will start at some point in January 2019,” said Bangor Police Department Sgt. Wade Betters. “We'd like to have at least five people hired, ready to go for January's academy."

The department is working to recruit new officers by attending job fairs and posting information to its social media accounts.

What has been the most effective way to recruit? Word of mouth.

“Believe it or not, a lot of our recruitment efforts have been successful just from word-of-mouth,” said Betters.

The department is using these recruitment efforts to highlight the different specialties offered in Bangor that other area police departments do not.

"We have a tactical team, a bomb team, [and] crisis negotiation,” said Betters. “We have a detective division. We investigate our own homicides. We're one of three departments in the state of Maine that does that. If an officer is coming in here looking to get promoted and make his way up the rank or up the ladder, this is a good place to do that, along with having some different experiences along the way in your career by working in different units.”

There's a lot of opportunity to work overtime, which can help attract new cops to the department.

"For us as a city, it's great to have the additional power out in the streets and getting on board and working with more veteran officers to get acclimated to the city,” said Bangor City Manager and Human Resources Director, Richard Cromwell.

Bangor Police does its own recruitment and hiring but Cromwell handles its contracts and potential union negotiations.

"We're trying to be competitive with wages and retirement packages, so we hope that will assist in our recruitment efforts to get more officers involved in the city,” said Cromwell.

"It's pretty exciting here,” added Betters. “It can be. I mean, there are a lot of downtimes, some sad times, some tough times, but we have a good group of officers here. You'll be welcome to join the family here. We take care of each other. A lot of the things we do, we function as a group, so it’s a pretty good environment to be a part of. If you need help, there’s help right there for you. You don’t have to wait a long time for your back-up to arrive.”

Betters called the department a family, on more than one occasion.

"It is big but it's not so big that it's not a family,” said Betters of the department. “People here will cover shifts for you. They'll help you out if you need a day off. We function as a team. If you want to go investigate a crime or something that's above and beyond what you're normally expected to do, you can do that with a few other officers and really solve a community problem or, you know, just take care of business."

Betters said officers have left the department for several reasons. Some retire, some go to other police departments, and others get out of the field entirely.

“Whenever we lose an officer, it just takes a significant amount of time to replace [that] person, and then we start the process of training people,” said Betters.

He's looking to fill those positions with compassionate, empathetic new recruits.

“We really want to hire people that can be helpers, […] but also hold the line when need be,” said Betters. “You don’t have to be a perfect person to be a police officer, so we encourage people to apply. If you want to be busy, if you’re dedicated, passionate, and you have compassion for people, you’re the person we’re looking for.”

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