# Springfield Police See Uptick in Applications for Civil Service Exam but Numbers are Still Down From Past Years



## DPH1992 (Mar 29, 2019)

Springfield police see uptick in applications for Civil Service exam, but numbers still down from past years


To field an academy class of 30-35 recruits, it takes as many as 140 applicants.




www.masslive.com





About 200 applicants the article says, normally they’d see anywhere from 300 to 500 according to the department. 200 applicants, for a city with 180,000 people..


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## AB7 (Feb 12, 2019)

City of 300,000.* Just my estimate after working there over the years and seeing how many permanent residents were “just here visiting” or “hadn’t changed their address”. It’s one giant cesspool.


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## DPH1992 (Mar 29, 2019)

AB7 said:


> City of 300,000.* Just my estimate after working there over the years and seeing how many permanent residents were “just here visiting” or “hadn’t changed their address”. It’s one giant cesspool.


Pretty disheartening to see. I’ve been keeping a close eye on CS registrations for this 2021 exam to see what the interest level is like among the public. There was an article out of Springfield recently, before this one, that said back in early February they only had 90 applicants! That’s absolutely horrific to see, thankfully they seemed to pick up before the deadline date now at 200


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## Kilvinsky (Jan 15, 2007)

And of 200, how many have no real chance of being hired, between a failing score, failed background check or just rethink the idea of getting into this profession? Well, I hope they can hire at least 30.


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## DPH1992 (Mar 29, 2019)

Kilvinsky said:


> And of 200, how many have no real chance of being hired, between a failing score, failed background check or just rethink the idea of getting into this profession? Well, I hope they can hire at least 30.


Exactly, or worse yet they start to be more lenient on the backgrounds. That’s the predicament departments will be in over the next few years. Do you keep the background and qualifiers as stringent as they are now or were, but risk not having enough applicants to fill retirements? Or do you ease up the qualifications, maybe overlook a few things on a background and fill enough retirement spots?


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## Hush (Feb 1, 2009)

DPH1992 said:


> Exactly, or worse yet they start to be more lenient on the backgrounds. That’s the predicament departments will be in over the next few years. Do you keep the background and qualifiers as stringent as they are now or were, but risk not having enough applicants to fill retirements? Or do you ease up the qualifications, maybe overlook a few things on a background and fill enough retirement spots?


I would like to see a study done on who is a bigger problem for departments. Older candidates with a few minor violations, or a 21 year old candidate with a clean record who has either never been caught, or never been in a tough spot before.


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## DPH1992 (Mar 29, 2019)

Hush said:


> I would like to see a study done on who is a bigger problem for departments. Older candidates with a few minor violations, or a 21 year old candidate with a clean record who has either never been caught, or never been in a tough spot before.


I’ve been saying for years departments should ease up on minor infringements. Now, it makes more sense than ever only because of recruitment numbers being so down. I agree, depends of course what we consider “minor”. I think “minor” also needs to be put in context in terms of time passed. For example, if some 30 year old applicant got pulled over when he was 21 with a slight buzz, do you overlook that if he’s clean otherwise? I’d say yeah personally, but if he was pulled over when he was 28 or something and only two years has passed, has he really learned his lesson.


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