YOUNGSTOWN Praising department, police chief plans to hire 20 officers

New cops will have one year to move into the city.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown Police Department is hiring, and Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. has his sales pitch ready: "It's an opportunity to work for a great chief."
Sign-ups begin Sept. 12, and the civil service test will be given Sept. 18.
The intricate hiring process, which includes a 17-page application, takes several months. Those chosen must live in the city -- they have one year to move in -- and will earn roughly $32,000 to start.
Bush said the civil service test will be in effect for two years and, over that time, he'd like to hire 20 officers, which would bring the department up to 217. In two years, the chance for advancement is going to increase with the retirement of several supervisors.
Bush called the city "one heck of a training ground" for those who want to do serious police work. He said the department is one of the best in the country, with ace investigators and officers who respond to 90,000 to 100,000 calls each year.
Kelly Lamb, a two-year veteran of the department and its youngest officer, said the buzz is that turnout will be heavy.
"I really like helping people in the community," Lamb said of her reason for joining YPD. "I couldn't sit at a desk all day. With police work, it's new situations every day."
At 21, Lamb was the youngest officer hired in October 2001, the last time hirings took place. She works the afternoon and midnight shifts on all beats in her hometown, mostly on the South Side, and is completing a bachelor's degree at Youngstown State University. She wants to stay at YPD and be a homicide detective.
"It's a good steppingstone for people coming out of the academy," Lamb said. "You put Youngstown police on an application and you'll be hired anywhere in the country."
Bush agreed that some of the new officers will use their job here as a steppingstone. It's a credit to YPD that, over time, officers went on to be hired by police departments in big cities, the FBI, federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and so forth, he said.
The chief reflected on the city's long-running crime problem, once exacerbated by corruption.
"When I talk to chiefs at seminars in Ohio and other places, we tell war stories," Bush said. "They don't have a story to tell."
Lt. Robin Lees, YPD spokesman, said the basic requirement for new cops is a high school education. Preference is given to veterans -- 20 percent added to their civil service test score -- and college graduates, who get 10 percent tacked on, Lees said.
There are also physical, psychological and polygraph tests.
Qualified applicants, if they don't have peace officer training, will be sent to the academy at the city's expense, Lees said.
meade@vindy.com