Prince William police need 100 new officers, will hold career fair at Potomac Mills

Those interested in a job in public safety are in luck. Prince William County will hold a career fair at Potomac Mills mall, where representatives from the police department and sheriff’s office will be on hand to answer questions.

The sheriff’s office protects the county courthouse in Manassas and serves court orders. The police department, commonly seen in Carolina-blue colored vehicles, responds to 911 calls — everything from car crashes and shootings to helping stranded drivers with flat tires.

The career fair is Saturday, August 27, 2022, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., near the TJ Maxx store at the shopping mall, 2700 Potomac Mills Circle in Woodbridge. You can go online to view all of the county’s open positions.

The job fair comes as the county is experiencing a spike in crime. So far this year, 10 poeple have been shot and killed on the streets of Prince William County, and the police department, like many across the U.S., is scrambling to fill open positions.

The police department needs about 100 new poeple to fill existing vacancies — 84 sworn, badge-wearing cops and 35 full-time, plain-clothed staff members. Department spokesman Jonathan Perok clarified a report by WUSA-TV, stating the department needs 100 new officers on top of what it already has.

This spring, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors passed a $3.8 billion budget for the fiscal year 2023, which began July 1. Despite calls from conservatives on the Board to add more fund badge-wearing cops to patrol the streets in the wake of rising crime, the Democrat-controlled Board identified 11 positions in the department it would “civilianize.”

The move put 11 uniformed police officers working desk jobs back onto the streets, leaving the depart to look for candidates to fill the administrative positions.

Perok says adding more police officer positions doesn’t necessarily equate to adding more cops. “Adding new or physical positions to our agency at this point would only increase the number of vacancies, not actually put physical bodies on those positions,” explained Perok. “For example, if we asked for 15 new positions, all that would do is take us from 84 to 99 vacancies.”

In recent years, the department has seen many employees retire, and it can take up to a year to find someone else to do the job, especially if the role is a specialized position. For patrol officers, it can take up to six months to hire, about six months to complete the training academy, and three months of on-the-street supervision before they begin solo duty.

Perok says one way the department is looking to fill more vacancies faster is to increase the number of basic training academy sessions from two to four sessions yearly.

The department would be “fully” staffed if it had 707 full-time officers. Still, with retirements, those leaving the policing field to seek other lines of work, and the challenges police departments have faced since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, that’s a challenging goal to achieve.

“I don’t think our department has ever been fully staffed [based on the 707 number],” said Perok.

Despite this, Prince William police say they still have enough officers to protect and serve Prince William County residents adequately. And since he assumed the role of county police chief on January 1, 2o21, Peter Newsham, former Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief, remains a “strong advocate” of recruitment.

“It’s a process that takes time, but the Chief continues to support any and all he can do for our current members and those new members seeking to join our department,” said Perok.