TROY, N.Y. -- "This is a great day for me," said Troy Police Sergeant Adam Mason. "It's a career goal I set for myself ever since I started with the department back in 1997.
Mason is one of Troy's newest police sergeants, and said he's worked hard to get where he is.
"It is a challenging job. We work weekends and holidays. I work afternoons so I sacrifice plenty of time with my family. But in the end it's a very rewarding job."
Rewarding is exactly the message the department is trying to get out as the Friday application deadline to be part of the Troy Police Academy approaches.
"It's about keeping our police department fully staffed," said Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian.
Five Troy Police Officers were promoted at a City Hall Ceremony Tuesday. The move opens up the previous positions which officials hope to fill with new police recruits. But as our Steve Ference reports, doing that has come with challenges for police departments around the area during their recruitment times.
With the five men who were promoted to Sergeant, officials said that means starting police officer jobs are now open, a total of six now for the department. Pay starts around $35,000. But that doesn't mean recruitment is easy.
"It's a profession people are not choosing anymore for some reason," Police Chief Nicholas Kaiser said.
It's not just Troy. Schenectady police tell us they have to fill five positions, and expect 12 retirements over the next year or so. And Albany police are trying to get the word out about, among other things, their typical pension after 20 years, and lifelong health benefits.
"Much larger agencies have much larger budgets to recruit. Seattle now has been advertising in New York City trying to attract officers from New York City," said Albany police spokesman, James Miller. =
Back in Troy they're looking for 200 applicants by this Friday. So far they have 160. And while they say the numbers are important, the most important aspect of that is getting the most qualified candidates.
"You no longer have to live in the city," explained Chief Kaiser. "The residency is not an issue at this point so we're looking for a better pool of candidates this time around."
"We make a difference every day," Sgt. Mason said. "The little things we do interacting with the community. It's just a very rewarding job."
Because while we're told crime doesn't pay Troy hopes to show it with the latest promotions that being a police officer does.