MOLINE, Illinois — As police officer applications decrease nationwide, more police departments at the local, county and state level in the Quad Cities are in need.
Over the last five years, applications to become a police officer across the country have decreased by 63 percent.
To address the problem 13 police departments hosted a job fair at Western Illinois University's Quad Cities campus Wednesday. Around 40 people attended.
"The biggest thing is to try and understand that the job is open to anyone," Trooper Jason Wilson, Illinois State Police District 7, said.
Wilson says there has been a decrease in applications for state police. To address the issue the department has changed application requirements.
Instead of a four-year degree, applicants now need either a two-year degree or three years serving with the military or another local department.
"We wanted to open up our horizons to get the most qualified applications available," Wilson says.
Wilson said he personally knows that job fairs like this one can work.
"This is actually how I became a state trooper 20 years ago," Wilson says.
He attended the job fair at the university's Macomb campus and says it gave him, and other applicants, an idea of what to expect in the field.
"It eased my mind and set me on my career path that I'm currently on," Wilson said.
Senior Alicia Elosia says she took the fair as an opportunity to learn more about the state police department.
"I've wanted to be a police officer because all of my life, I've felt a calling," she says.
Even thought Elosia says she felt a little intimidated at first, she knows the job is right for her.
"I feel like its an opportunity," Elosia said. "I'm doing something that a man does and that doesn't mean I can't do it. I feel more empowered to do it."
Silvis Police Chief Mark VanKlaveren says local police departments are also seeing the decrease in applications.
"Social media has an impact, some stories have a huge impact on what we do," VanKlaveren says. "We have a lot of folks coming up on retirement."
No matter which department, each wants to make their mark on applicants.
"A lot of people ask what the best part of the job has been, and flat out some of the best days is when I go to work, knowing I've saved a life," Wilson says.