GREAT FALLS — The Montana Highway Patrol is making changes to the way they recruit new troopers.
In the past, the agency has had a hard time keeping up with demand for new troopers, because their recruiting process held a lot of unknowns for new recruits.
Once completing the Law Enforcement Academy and the Highway Patrol Academy, new recruits would be assigned to locations based on where troopers were most needed, and few had the option to choose where they went.
With the new process, someone who lives in Great Falls would have the option to be stationed in Great Falls.
Lieutenant Colonel Jason Hildenstab says they hope the change will bring a larger pool of recruits: "Our hope in this is to try to get people more confident in applying with us that they don't have to uproot their family or their lives to move. That they can - if they make it through our process they're just going to be stationed where they've applied from."
He also says that they plan to see how this works for their next few hiring cycles before seeing if any changes need to be made.
Click here to learn more about MHP recruiting.
