CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia State Police (VSP) is facing a staffing shortage. The agency said it is already taking the necessary steps to not only fill those spaces, but encourage new troopers to stay.  

A state police spokesperson said that, across the entire department, there are currently 351 vacancies. However, its newly-expanded “Pathway to Troopers” program is one way that it is filling spots and strengthening the department — and VSP has already seen some success.     

Pathway to Troopers is for young adults aged 17-and-a-half to 20 years old who are interested in joining the agency, but are too young. Applicants must be 21 years old when they graduate from the academy. The program finds jobs in the field while those applicants wait to apply to the Trooper Basic Session Academy. 

“There’s a key demographic that we’re missing,” said VSP Lt. Patrick Green. “And those are the people that will be coming into that age group. We’re seeing that this program … it does help with attrition, as far as the academy is concerned.” 

Green said that 10 applicants have already completed the “Pathway to Trooper” program and nine of them are already in dispatch. He added that the agency expects those numbers to climb. 

“That’s why we developed this program, actually — to just try to make a dent in some of those vacancies that we do have, and also to prepare for the future by attracting young men and women that are interested in a career in law enforcement,” Green said.  

These vacancies are not a problem unique to VSP, according to Green.

“There’s a bunch of theories as to what that can be — I mean, certainly there’s some generational differences that exist,” Green said.

But, while the vacancies aren’t only happening at VSP, the Pathway to Troopers Program is.

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” Green said. “No one’s really doing this. So they [the applicants] can get in at ground-level.”