Baltimore Launches Program To Recruit Future Police Officers
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore has launched a program to attract qualified young people for careers in the city's police force.
Mayor Catherine Pugh says the Cadet-Apprentice Program will help train the next generation of officers. In a Wednesday statement, Pugh described it as part of a reform effort to ensure "constitutional, community-based policing."
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A federal consent decree mandating sweeping police reforms in Baltimore is gradually ramping up. It was authorized in January 2017 after the Justice Department detailed longstanding patterns of racial profiling and unconstitutional policing.
There are 11 cadets in the program approved for state accreditation. Pugh aims to have 20 at the close of this year.
Cadets can start at age 18 and continue until they're eligible to enter the police academy at 20 ½. The starting salary is $30,000.
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