Yakima Police Hire Full Time Recruiter

The Yakima Police Department has hired a full time recruiter to hire more police officers. Yakima Police spokesman Mike Bastinelli says the focus will be to look for local people who want to join the police force. He says for the first time the department has hired a full time officer as the recruiter. "Officer Hayley Mires is on patrol now but she'll start soon and that will be her full time job focusing on recruiting future Yakima Police officers."
The department has 135 commissioned officers but the department is budgeted for 148 officers. Many of the current officers are set to retire within the next year. Basteinelli says as a result they're in desperate need of new officers so he says the new recruiter will be working with area schools and the military to find more officers to join the Yakima Police Department.