For the first time in years, the City of Turlock is now accepting applications for Police Officer Trainees.

The program will hire new officers as recruits and pay to send them through the six-month police academy.

Turlock Police Department abandoned the process of hiring untrained recruits years ago, but due to the large number of vacancies, it will resume. Turlock Police Department currently has six vacancies.

In recent years, officers were required to have completed the police academy before the City of Turlock would hire them. The change in policy comes following an April 8 vote of the Turlock City Council.

“We encourage anyone who is interested in becoming a police officer to apply,” said Turlock Police Department spokesperson Mayra Lewis.

The new process will not replace the existing recruitment process. The department will still be accepting applications for non-trainees, and the department will continue to look for recruits from other agencies.

Upon appointment as a Police Officer Trainee, new recruits will go through the six-month police academy. Upon passing the academy, trainees will be appointed to the Police Officer I position and placed on an 18 month probation period.

Applicants must be at least 20 ½-years-old at the time of appointment.

“The type of person we are looking for is someone with good moral character, (who is a) hard worker and is interested in serving the citizens of Turlock,” Lewis said.

Applicants must submit their application to the Human Resources at the City of Turlock, located at 156 S. Broadway, no later than 5 p.m. on May 6.

Applications, and additional information and qualifications can be found here.

Job Watch is an ongoing series from TurlockCityNews.com, intended to help Turlockers find jobs in this challenging economy.