DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — People from across Georgia showed up in hopes of becoming a DeKalb County police officer on Saturday.
The department hosted a one-stop-shop hiring event at its east precinct in Lithonia.
“Police say these events are making a difference. The department had a big boost in hiring last year compared to 2023 and it hopes to repeat that success this year,” Channel 2′s Bryan Mims said.
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De’Andre Jones, 20, recently completed training for the National Guard.
On Saturday, he ran and jumped his way through the DeKalb County Police Department’s physical agility test.
“I got aspirations of being like a detective, CIA agent, so this is the start of my career,” Jones said.
He said he felt good about his performance in the physical test and feels very good about a future in law enforcement.
“Oh yeah, growing up I always wanted to be like a police officer or a firefighter type of thing,” he said.
DeKalb County police started these one-stop-shop hiring events last year.
The department hosts them quarterly.
They include psychological exams and other job screening protocols.
Major Nicole Rutland said the department is always looking for good men and women to wear the badge.
“There are a few more steps they have to go through, but this really just puts everything in one place so that we can serve a whole lot more people to get more applicants,” Rutland said. “The more people that come out to the hiring event, the better.”
Recruits who do well in this hiring event walk away with a conditional job offer and a start date of April 28.
The department offers a starting salary of over $57,000 for non-certified officers.
The department hosts another hiring event in the spring and you can always fill out an application online.
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