TOLEDO, Ohio — For years, Ohio police departments have struggled to recruit enough officers. Communities have ramped up recruiting and the state has even created grant programs to help departments fill open positions around Ohio.
But many state and local law enforcement officials agree, one challenge to recruiting officers is that policing is one of the hardest jobs around and it is getting harder and harder to find qualified candidates to hire.
"You are holding people's liberties and life, sometimes, in your hands," Toledo Metroparks Chief of Rangers Brad Navarre said.
So what happens when police officers leave a job because of misconduct accusations that may include spousal abuse or excessive use of force on the job? 11 Investigates has discovered that in many cases, those officers are able to get new jobs at new departments – at least in part because of the shortage of candidates for policing jobs, officials said.
The job hopping raises questions about how rigorous local departments are being when hiring officers.
"You look at someone's resume and you think they are they jumping all over the place," Navarre said.
To make officer professional records more transparent, Ohio officials created a database in 2019 that allows departments who are hiring to check the professional records of job candidates. The database allows departments who are hiring to access to training records, work history and explanations about why officers separated from their previous department.
The portal to the database was recently made available to the public and 11 Investigates has analyzed what can be found there.
Since June 30, 2021, at least 850 officers were forced to resign or retire in Ohio because of misconduct investigations. Of those, more than 385 have been hired by other departments.
State and community officials agree that the difficulty filling open jobs at Ohio's law enforcement agencies is contributing to the problem.
"This is actually a symptom of a much larger societal problem, which is we can't find cops right now," Ohio Attorney General, Dave Yost said.
Among the local officers who left a previous job while under investigation was former Toledo police detective Keith Hurst.
Records show Hurst was disciplined in May 2023 and put on leave for unholstering his weapon and threatening to shoot a fellow officer in the knee. Five months later – On Oct. 24 – Hurst resigned during disciplinary proceedings.
Records show, however, that Hurst already had a new job at Woodville Police Department. His first day on the job in Woodville was Oct. 16, 2023.
Woodville officials whom 11 Investigates asked about Hurst said that with a low number of applicants the quality of applicants and retention of officers is an ongoing issue.
It's a problem many departments are dealing with.
"There's not many people wanting to go into this profession," Navarre said.
Oregon Police Chief Brandon Begin said the number of applicants for jobs has declined in recent years.
"We were at 55 applicants nine years ago, now we're at 11 people," Begin said.
While police chiefs said they haven't had to lower standards, Chief Begin said his department has two open positions because none of the 11 applicants for those jobs could pass the physical test or otherwise didn't meet the department's qualifications.
"Local communities needing to cover shifts, I don't doubt, are hiring people that they would rather not," Yost said. "Ten years, 20 years ago, when we had thousands of people applying for jobs, they might not have accepted those folks. But today, you've got to cover the shift."
In Swanton, officials said they've had to work harder to get enough recruits.
"Getting applicants hasn't been hard, we've had to put pay increases in place though," Village Administrator Shannon Shulters said.
Shulters said they village has had to increase hourly wages up $3 dollars an hour.
Being a small town department can make retaining new hires difficult as well, Shulters said.
"They leave here because they want to join a SWAT team," Shulters said. "They want to be a lieutenant, or sergeant and those are limited."
Just like any department, Swanton police does a full background check before letting an officer onboard. This includes criminal-record searches, drug screens, psychological evaluations and physical tests.
But Swanton is one of the departments that has hired an officer with a troubled past.
In 2019 Swanton hired former Defiance County Sheriff's Deputy John Trejo despite the fact he had left the sheriff's office while under investigation for allegedly assaulting his wife, kicking her and putting his hands around her neck. In May, 2023, Trejo was promoted to chief.
Shulters confirmed to 11 Investigates that village officials were aware of the accusations against Trejo when they hired him and later when he was promoted.
Through the hundreds of records, 11 Investigates found many other examples of officers getting second, third and fourth chances, but when does it become one too many?
"I think it's getting tougher for all agencies," Begin said.
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