Burlington Reporter

Those who want to be police officers can essentially choose where they want to live, as almost every area of the country has a need for law enforcement officers right now.

For James Ordonez, Burlington was a good fit. Ordonez is one of the cadets learning how to become a fully functional officer for the city of Burlington, North Carolina.

“Right here in the city of Burlington, I found everything,” Ordonez told ABC 45 News.  “It's going to be a good time doing it all together." 

Right now, the city has 26 people in various stages of training. Should all of them complete the course, that would increase the department's deployable officer count by up to 25% by the end of 2023. 

“Some of our specialized units that we haven't been able to staff... and be more proactive in some of those areas, we will definitely be able to get some of those spots filled and be in positions where officers that are there will have the opportunity to get more time off,” Shelly Katkowski -- hiring, recruitment and training lieutenant for the Burlington Police Department -- told ABC 45 News.

One of the things that helped with recruiting the current class of future officers is that the department has raised salaries across the board, for all ranks. Another incentive comes into play down the road. Officers who accrue enough unused sick time can retire three years early.

“With this new incentive, you can retire almost three years early if you don't use a lot of sick time throughout your career,” Katkowski said, according to ABC 45 News.

Ordonez said these are just some of the benefits that the department offers and that they played a role in his decision to choose Burlington.

“It’s an entire nation going through a work shortage, as well as law enforcement, and the city of Burlington is doing a fantastic job in meeting that curve and making sure they are taking care of their people,” the cadet told ABC 45 News.

Looking further into the future, the Burlington Police Department is working toward having 145 deployable officers.