New plan to pay for police training to increase applicants likely to be approved in La Crosse

Dept. has seen a surge in applicants lately.

The final bits of the La Crosse Police Department’s plan to recruit more applicants likely gets the stamp of approval by the city council this week.  

In its most recent job posting, the department has promised to pay for the 720 hours of new officer training required to become certified to work as a cop on the streets in Wisconsin. 

Just adjusting to the times, says police chief Ron Tischer.

“Like all the other police dept., not only through the state, but throughout the country, are struggling to find good, quality people,” Tischer said.

The new offer appears to be partly why there’s been a surge of applicants for the department. 

“Since we’ve opened this up we’ve seen a lot more excitement generated for good, quality applicants and a diverse group of applicants to come to the city of La Crosse,” Tischer said.

The council this week votes on a deal with the police union to pay 75 percent of regular starting officer pay for classroom time.  

That, however, wouldn’t mean the officers will stick around once the training is over. But Tischer likes the odds.

“We do a pretty thorough background check,” Tischer said. “The majority of the people we hire stay in La Crosse, because, as you know, once you get to La Crosse it’s rather hard to leave. Everybody does enjoy (it here).”