Michigan State Police are in the middle of a statewide recruiting effort for more troopers.
Since the beginning of 2020, MSP has graduated four trooper recruit schools with a total of 228 new troopers.
They’ve recently changed how they place their new troopers, allowing them to stay closer to home with the hopes of giving potential hires more opportunities.
“A lot of families want to be involved in MSP now and we don’t want to uproot a guy that has, or a girl, that has a family, a couple kids, a house,” said Lt. Mark Giannunzio.
Having them close to home is also an advantage because they’re already familiar with the community, which goes a long way in maintaining good relationships with the people they serve.
“In those areas, they want to stay there and they’re already built those kind of community relationships so now we can just bring the trooper part into that and it’s really been working well and it’s a great time to get in,” Lt. Giannunzio said.
The criticism of police over the past few years hasn’t helped out recruiting efforts, but in northern Michigan, there’s still a need for more troopers.
“The U,P is a little bit different, maybe the northern lower a probably a bit different than the large urban areas,” says Lt. Giannunzio. “I truly believe that the large majority of people want us and support us and need us out there.”
Those looking to join the Michigan State Police are encouraged to check out career options and apply.
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