The director of the state board that oversees police officers says he thinks loosening rules for recruits and marijuana use is helping boost academy numbers.
Most law enforcement agencies in Arizona don’t have enough staff.
The change in guidelines reflects people coming of age to wear a badge being less likely to consider legal marijuana as a disqualifying factor.
A new rule cutting the time a police recruit must be marijuana-free to six months from two years doesn’t officially take effect until September.
But agencies have been able to hire people under the new requirement for about a year by petitioning the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.
The board's executive director, Matt Giordano, said the practice has expanded the pool of good applicants.
“The public has different expectations of their incoming police officers than they did 25 years ago, as well as agencies,” he said.
The board reimburses police academies for each graduate. Payments are up so far this year compared to last.
“We’re already seeing an uptick in recruit graduations from our 17 regional police academies around the state,” Giordano said.
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In a district with more than 80% nonwhite students, the community is calling for a more rigorous effort to protect schools from potential immigration enforcement activity. -
A bill advancing in the Arizona Legislature would direct local police to determine the immigration status of people they’ve arrested. If a person is undocumented, local police would be required to notify federal immigration officers. -
Friday is the final day of a social services event for veterans at the state fairgrounds. It includes satellite courtrooms so former military can clear their records of fines, fees and other minor legal issues. -
The expanded order requires services that transfer money abroad to report data about customers who make transactions over $1,000. -
Investigators released their preliminary report on the DPS helicopter that crashed in Flagstaff last month, killing both officers onboard. The report found no evidence of maintenance issues or ballistic damage but found evidence of main rotor strikes to the tail rotor gearbox.
