On Saturday, what looked like a crime scene at the Dimond Center, wasn't one at all. Public Safety officials showed off their bomb squad robot, SWAT truck and fire engines to get a buzz going around about new positions at the Anchorage fire and police departments.
"The best tool that we have is to get out and let folks see what it is we do on a day to day basis," Anchorage police officer Ryan Rockom said. "I think the community can take heart in the fact that we're doing everything we can to make sure the people that we do recruit are of the highest caliber."
Both departments are looking to fill their fall academy classes due to attrition and injury that has put their staff levels pretty low. The police department is looking to fill more than fifty positions in the next coming years and the fire department is looking to fill around twenty positions.
"We're looking for candidates that are educated, physically fit and that have a lot of common sense and can react well under pressure," AFD Captain Tony Schwamm said. "With the recent events in Boston and Texas, emergencies happen every day and we want to make sure we get people that are willing to respond to those emergencies."
It is a long road to getting into both department academies but the first step is to apply online. For the APD go to joinapd.org and for the AFD go to muni.org/jobs.
Contact Garrett Turner: