MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland Police Department is short-handed but actively working to fill their 37 open officer positions.
Once a month the department holds tryouts for those who want to protect and serve the Midland community.
"Community is growing, we don't have enough officers out on our street to be giving our community the response time that we need to, we're doing the best we can," said Biana Rodriguez, a background investigator for the recruiting process with the Midland Police Department.
NewsWest 9's Tate Owen and Jolina Okazaki went through the tryout process and found out it's not as easy as it sounds... or looks.
"It's definitely a challenge. It seems easy, I've had people come in here and be like oh 25 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, I can do that but when you get in here and we show you the way it has to be done it's actually difficult," said Rodriguez.
Eric Vidal also found this out first hand. He failed the tryout the first time but came back out to try again and passed.
"I wanted a career, I did the oil field thing like everyone else did but I just felt like this has always been a dream of mine," said Vidal.
There's a physical, and written portion of the tryout.
During the physical portion, you're required to do 35 sits ups in a minute, 25 push-ups and run a mile and a half in under 14 minutes.
"The test is for females and males across the board. There are no girl push-ups, we don't do girl push-ups, you've gotta do the same thing as males," said Rodriguez.
The department is looking for both male and female officers.
Currently, there are 158 sworn officers working for the department but fully staffed is considered 195.
The next tryout will be March 28th.
If you want more information on what's required to be a Midland Police Officer you can find those requirements on their website.
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