This is how Bellingham will change hiring standards amid ongoing police staffing shortage
Bellingham Police are easing their hiring qualifications for one year, ending a college requirement in an effort to get more officers on the street.
Mayor Seth Fleetwood disclosed the change in a City Council committee session Monday, July 25.
“Saying that, we’re not going to lower our standards in any way,” Fleetwood told the Committee of the Whole.
Police Chief Rebecca Mertzig said it was an “effort to get people through the door” and widen the candidate pool.
Applicants no longer will be required to have an associate’s degree, or 90 quarter hours/60 semester hours of course work at an accredited college or university, Mertzig said.
A high school diploma will be the only education requirement.
Like many police departments across Washington state and the nation, Bellingham is seeing a shortage of officers amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the “great resignation,” coupled with loss of public support and demands for law-enforcement reforms that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
In January, Bellingham Police faced such a shortage of officers that they began staffing only their patrol and investigations divisions, the two units that are key to answering 911 calls and solving serious crime.
Deputy Chief Don Almer told The Bellingham Herald in January that the department had 13 vacancies out of 122 budgeted positions.
Meanwhile, the city has begun a Downtown Ambassador program and hired private security patrols in the city center in an effort to get eyes on the street as crime and vandalism have risen downtown.
This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
