Chicago Police Change Requirements For Applicants

The Chicago Police Department has announced that they are changing the requirements for applicants.  A written exam will be held on December 11, the first in four years. The minimum age for an applicant has been raised from 21 to 25 in an effort to attract more mature applicants. They are also requiring that at least 20 percent of applicants picked for each class will be military veterans, provided that enough military veterans apply for positions.  If an applicant was a member of the armed forces for at least three years in a row, or one year of active duty with at least 30 hours of college credit, they can apply for a position even if they are as young as 21 years old.  All other applicants must be at least 25 years old and have completed at least 60 semester hours of college.  This new age requirement is in conflict with the police departments cadet program which allows people as young as 17 and 21 years old to work with police officers to learn how to do the job.  They will now have to wait until they are at least 25 years old before applying for a position with the Chicago Police Department.  The current city budget provides for the hiring of two new classes of recruits.  Each class includes 75 to 100 new hires.  The City is planning on hiring about 200 more officers next year.  The department is currently about 2,300 officers short of authorized strength.  A result of a more than two year hiring slowdown.

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