MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Police departments facing officer shortages are now looking at different ways to recruit. One department is targeting teenagers for the job.
Jordan Magill already knows what he wants to retire doing, and he’s just 17.
“My overall goal is to become a wildlife officer,” said Magill.
He said law enforcement runs in the family.
“My dad was a military police officer and my uncle is a police officer in Dayton. Then my grandma, she was a police officer. It’s just kind of family tradition. I would say,” said Magill.
It’s part of the reason he wanted to be in Middletown’s first police youth academy.
“It’s just another experience with the police department that I’ve grown up around,” said Magill.
Academy students are learning about everything from classroom trainings to the underground jail, to 911 dispatch to police gear.
School resource officers came up with the idea to show high school kids the ropes at the police department
Middletown Police Chief David Birk said he backed the plan hoping it helps the department combat a growing problem.
“We’re definitely in need of officers. We currently have three vacancies. we’re going through the process and it’s just a long process, but the appeal for law enforcement’s just not there that it was 20 years ago,” said Birk.
That’s why he said they’re trying this as a new way to recruit younger officers.
“What we want to do is get that appeal back to show that these young kids that, ‘Hey, you know, you can come to a police department, maybe start out as a dispatcher or corrections at 18 years old and work your way up to become a police officer if that’s what you choose to do,’” said Birk.
For Magill, he said he’s ready to make an impact.
“It’s not about your family legacy. It’s about the community,” said Magill.
