When Dave Tollett applied to be an officer in 1963, he sat on a waiting list for a year before being hired.

“The field was not nearly as open as it is now,” said Tollett, now an employee at the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

As baby boomers – born between 1946 and 1964 – inch their way toward retirement age, police departments face the increasing need to recruit new officers. And the new officers filling those positions have very different career plans than their predecessors, some baby boomer police officers say.

The hiring blitzes of 25 to 30 years ago are now resulting in a swelling wave of retirements, said Deputy Chief Joseph Bellino of Evanston Police Department. Seven officers retired in 2004. That number jumped to 14 in 2005.

As a result of the vacancies, EPD hired 16 new officers in 2004 and 21 the following year.

Although crime in major cities has steadily declined in recent decades, the advancing retirement of older officers is expected to push departments to rapidly hire through 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Year-round testing is used to fill the empty positions. The last cycle was held in December, and there are still some vacancies at EPD. The department’s recruitment efforts include advertising, job fairs and career days, Bellino said.

But unlike Tollett, many officers joining the force aren’t guaranteed to stay on for their entire careers.

“When we went to work, we went to stay for the duration,” said Tollett, who stayed at his Virginia police department until his retirement 13 years ago. “But the attitude is different now.”

Bellino, who joined EPD in 1972, said he sees a greater turnover rate than in the past. Other departments, federal agencies and the private security sector, which generally pays more, compete for the same pool of applicants, he said.

“A lot of officers are not staying for the long haul,” he said. “They go to different agencies or a different line of work completely.”

The education level of officers has also changed, said William Jahnke, who retired in January 2005 after working for EPD since he was 21. When he joined in 1969, only a high school diploma was needed. EPD now requires at least 60 semester hours of college credit.

Jahnke agreed that a difference in attitudes exists between all generations.

“I guess it’s like everything else. The guys before us thought we were not as good as they were, and everything turned out fine,” Jahnke said. “They’ll keep doing the job the way they’re supposed to. Every generation thinks theirs is better.”

Reach Beth Murtagh at [email protected].