Queen Creek hiring police officers as town gets ready to launch police department
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. - In a report on the Far East Valley area in late April, we reported that Queen Creek is set to have its own police department. Now, we are learning that the town is just months away from achieving that goal.
"What we’re all about is serving with compassion, respect and trust," said Queen Creek Police Chief Randy Brice.
For about 30 years, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has been servicing the Queen Creek area. Queen Creek Police, which was approved in 2020, will be hitting the streets of the Far East Valley town in January 2022.
"That’s all of the things the community was concerned about, was making sure the response times are good, and that the feeling of safety is part of this organization," said Chief Brice.
Chief Brice is still looking for staff to fill the roster.
"We’ve hired three sergeants, two lieutenants and a senior administrative assistant, so very small so far, but we have almost all of our sworn staff in the background process right now or some stage of that," said Chief Brice. "It's going to be a total of 64 employees. eight professional staff, and the rest will be sworn police officers, so about 56 officers at different ranks."
Chief Brice says they've had great candidates so far, and he's hoping more will apply to make sure they're good to go in a few months.
"Everyone is out there trying to get the best candidates, and so, we are staying competitive when it comes to pay," said Chief Brice. "If you look at our incentives and our pay scale, we’re one of the highest in the East Valley."
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