Police forces across the country are facing a serious dilemma – they're running short on officers and struggling to attract a diverse workforce. A myriad of obstacles block the path of potentially qualified candidates. A lack of time or resources to complete the necessary schooling is often the barrier keeping the door closed, according to the City of St. Louis Park, Minnesota

In response, the St. Louis Park Police Department has taken a bold step forward with its Pathways to Policing Program, designed to lower hurdles and beckon a more varied array of applicants, specifically aiming to draw in individuals of color, women, veterans, and those whose resumes lay outside traditional law enforcement experience to harness a broader range of insights and backgrounds for the force. The program offers selected candidates a full-time wage and covers their accelerated training over four months valuing the immediacy of action over the extended hibernation of potential.

Candidates traditionally face the task of completing a two-year degree intertwined with a peace officer and public safety training, followed by a POST exam before they can ever dream of donning the badge, as per the City of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Under the new initiative, the journey to becoming an officer is not just made shorter but crafted to be more achievable, a reimagining of the wheel rather than the slow reinvention of its turns.