Kingston Twp. advertises a potential starting salary of more than $75,000. Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton pay for the costly schooling and training. The Municipality of Kingston touts that beards and tattoos are now acceptable on the job.
So who wants to be a police officer in 2025?
Departments across Northeast Pennsylvania are advertising — and struggling — to hire police officers as fewer people choose to enter the profession and larger, more affluent areas lure officers with more money and better benefits.
The issue has gotten so concerning, Kington Twp. recently authorized a committee to address challenges in the recruitment and retention.
When Municipality of Kingston police chief Rich Kotchik applied for one of three positions in 1998, there were around 100 applicants, unlike the lack of interest departments are seeing now.
“We are barely getting anyone to apply anymore. The last couple tests we gave we had like two, three people apply. But we aren’t the only ones,” Kotchik said. “The desire to be a police officer, it seems like you’re not seeing what you used to see. It’s a combination of everything. The scrutiny is one. And there’s high stress, 100%. The ‘defund the police’ movement, all that stuff played a role.”
Police departments across Northeast Pennsylvania are advertising – and struggling – to hire police officers as fewer people choose to enter the profession and larger, more affluent areas continue to lure officers with more money and better benefits.
Cadets from the Lackawanna College Police Academy Scranton Class 258 and Hazleton Class 259 take part in graduation during a June 2023 ceremony.
Schuylkill Haven Police Chief Jeffrey Walcott, pictured Thursday, April 17, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
Scranton police and first responders work at the scene of an incident involving a motorcycle on Friday afternoon at Wyoming Avenue and Linden Street in the city. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Kevin Mahoney, a retired state trooper, is the director of the Lackawanna College Police Academy
Police departments across Northeast Pennsylvania are advertising – and struggling – to hire police officers as fewer people choose to enter the profession and larger, more affluent areas continue to lure officers with more money and better benefits.
Police departments across Northeast Pennsylvania are advertising – and struggling – to hire police officers as fewer people choose to enter the profession and larger, more affluent areas continue to lure officers with more money and better benefits.
Police departments across Northeast Pennsylvania are advertising – and struggling – to hire police officers as fewer people choose to enter the profession and larger, more affluent areas continue to lure officers with more money and better benefits.
Police departments across Northeast Pennsylvania are advertising – and struggling – to hire police officers as fewer people choose to enter the profession and larger, more affluent areas continue to lure officers with more money and better benefits.
Police departments across Northeast Pennsylvania are advertising – and struggling – to hire police officers as fewer people choose to enter the profession and larger, more affluent areas continue to lure officers with more money and better benefits.
Kingston Twp. Municipal Building. (Jason Ardan / Staff Photographer)
Lateral transfers lead to competition for officers
Kingston, which has a base salary of up to $79,340, has waived the normal job application fee and is advertising that tasteful beards and tattoos are now welcome.
In addition to recruitment challenges, departments like Kingston face difficulties retaining the officers they have.
Officers are retiring earlier these days and some are opting for lateral transfers to join other departments with better pay and perks. Those departments are waiving the normal civil service requirements to hire officers with experience.
Three Kingston officers applied to be considered for Wilkes-Barre City’s new lateral transfer list, Kotchik said, noting that some see Wilkes-Barre’s pay structure, benefits and retirement package as more desirable.
Wilkes-Barre City officials created the list as an emergency measure because the department is down 12 officers with more retirements pending. The city is moving fast because its most recent hiring list has been exhausted.
Wilkes-Barre police Chief Joe Coffay said the lateral transfer process, which allows certified officers to skip some of the civil service hurdles to join a department, attracted 47 applicants, more than the 37 who took the last test. He expects to hire from the lateral transfer list in the coming weeks to fill his ranks.
“We used to get 200-300 people to take our test. Last time, 37 people took our test. After the physical agility portion and background, it went down to 10. Out of those 10, we were able to hire three,” Coffay said.
The city paid for the required Act 120 training for the three cadets, who graduate in July and will then be required to complete three months of probationary field training on the streets of Wilkes-Barre City.
However, the whole process, from filling out the application to being a full-time officer off of probation, takes nearly a year for those who need Act 120 training, Coffay said.
“With the emergency thing, I’m putting 10 people in now instead of waiting a year,” Coffay said.
Wilkes-Barre is having its written civil service test on May 17 with a deadline to apply of May 8. Deadlines to apply from some other open jobs are April 25 in Dallas Twp., Plains Twp. and Scranton; April 28 in Rice Twp.; May 12 in Swoyersville; and May 9 in Kingston Twp.
Paid training perk
Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, and Scranton pay for an officer’s Act 120 training, which usually takes between six and seven months and costs about $10,000 for tuition, fees and equipment.
The municipalities require a commitment from the cadet they sponsor. In Scranton, officers who leave within one year of service must reimburse the city 100% of Act 120 expenses. Those who leave within two years owe 75% and those who leave within three years must repay 50%.
The employment ad for Scranton police shouts “WE ARE HIRING” and boasts that “No experience necessary and free training provided.” Starting salary is between $62,927 and $78,661 based on experience, the ad says.
Jeff Walcott, police chief in Schuylkill Haven near Pottsville, said his department recently advertised job openings through Feb. 17. One person picked up an application packet and it was never returned, he said.
“We were disappointed to say the least,” Walcott said.
Walcott said he planned to ask the borough council to consider waiving the requirement that candidates have already graduated from the Act 120 police academy before applying.
Kingston Twp. Manager Fred Rosencrans, Luzerne County’s former 911 director and a former police officer in Dallas Twp., said the municipality will look into sponsoring Act 120 training for officers who pledge to work for the township.
The township recently formed a committee to address recruitment and retention. The committee includes Rosencrans, two supervisors, the police chief, several unionized police officers, and the township clerk.
“I think we’ll come up with some good ideas on recruiting and retention efforts going forward. We don’t want to get in a bidding war with other municipalities. Collectively, we need to look at this not only from our own municipality,” Rosencrans said. “Dallas Twp. is hiring right now, too, and we’re competing with each other.”
Rosencrans said the competition is far bigger outside the borders of the Back Mountain.
Recruiters from bigger departments and more affluent municipalities from out of the area continue to pick off local recruits with promises of better pay and perks, he said.
“How do I compete with a six-figure salary? I’m bound by a budget,” Rosencrans said.
Unlike Kingston Twp., next door Dallas Twp. does pay for an applicant’s Act 120 training.
“That opens a window a little. There’s a lot of people out there who can’t afford to pay for training,” Dallas Twp. assistant police chief Brian Feeney said.
Dallas Twp. received 20 applications during its most recent round of hiring for two positions. Only 12 people eventually took the test. Soon, another opening will need to be filled, Feeney said.
“We have been going through the hiring practice the past year and a half,” Feeney said. “It’s a challenging process for all departments because there doesn’t seem like there are a lot of people who want to go into the law enforcement field.”
Applicant numbers plummet from past peaks
Plains Twp. Police Chief Dale Binker said the department is testing with a deadline of April 25 to apply. The department is looking to fill several spots and anticipates several openings due to retirements.
“Going back 30 years ago when I started, it was hard to get a police officer job. Now we have more jobs than applicants,” Binker said. “We are competing against towns across the whole Commonwealth.”
Starting salary for new Plains officers is $63,000 after a probationary period.
Hazleton police isn’t currently hiring, but when it is, the number of applicants is way down from the past.
“We average about 20 applicants every time we put out an application. That’s decent for this area, but years ago we were filling up football fields for an opening,” said Officer Jessica Surkin, the department’s public information officer.
While recruiting has been challenging, the department is encouraged that eight of the department’s 41 officers are women and four are certified in Spanish speaking, she said.
Like Allentown and Reading and later Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton relaxed its strict civil service requirements to encourage lateral transfers. While the move generated some applications, it didn’t result in any hires, Hazleton police Chief Brian Schoonmaker said when Wilkes-Barre announced such plans in November.
“I’ve been doing this for 27 years. Back in the day, you’d have one opening and you’d have 25 applicants for one job. Ever since COVID, you can’t get people in the door,” said Rice Twp. police chief Harry Erhet, whose department is offering $24.70 an hour to start. “In smaller towns like mine, it’s hard to compete moneywise compared to what they make in Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes-Barre Twp. They are paying their officers so much more.”
Academy director: Best time to be cop candidate
Fewer candidates for jobs has led to intense recruiting, more choices and better pay in the profession, said Kevin Mahoney, a retired state trooper who is the director of the Lackawanna College Police Academy, which hosts Act 120 training classes in Scranton and Hazleton.
“The landscape for people who successfully pass the academy has never been better. The landscape for police departments is not,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney said he allows recruiters from departments from all over to circulate flyers to cadets and even make personal pitches to the class.
“We are happy to hear them out,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney said the academy does a considerable amount of recruiting itself to increase the number of cadets it has to offer to police departments.
The job remains a noble and important one, he said.
“It’s a great job and now they are getting paid better than ever,” Mahoney said. “If you want to be a police officer, there is no better time.”