The Powell Police Department is hoping the third time will be the charm as it looks for a new police officer.

The department sought applicants for an open post last fall and again in December, but didn’t find the right person among the half-dozen or so resumes that were submitted each time.

“We’re not willing to hire for the sake of hiring,” Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt said last week. “We want to make sure we’re hiring the right people in here.”

The department is now looking for two of the right people after a second officer, Cpl. Chad Glick, left the department in January; Cpl. Mike Hall had left the department in October.

Eckerdt said the department has now restarted its lengthy hiring process and plans to try some different tactics this time around.

For one thing, “We’re trying some different venues of advertising the openings to try and get further reach, to cast a wider net for applicants,” he said.

In addition, the new recruitment materials focus more on the job’s benefits — including the vacation time, sick time, family health insurance and retirement plan.

Eckerdt hopes the shift in the ads’ focus will reach younger generations, who he believes are more interested in a job’s pay, benefits and impacts on family than older generations like his, who have been more interested in service.

Eckerdt thinks a less service-oriented society is a factor in the fewer police recruits, while in this part of the country, abundant, high-paying oil field jobs may also dampen demand.

Finding and keeping quality employees has also been an issue for the Park County Sheriff’s Office in recent years — one well-publicized during the 2014 campaign for sheriff — but the problem isn’t unique to the area or Wyoming.

“Agencies around the country are struggling with hiring officers,” Eckerdt said.

Going two officers short can create problems with overtime and covering shifts, though the effects to the patrol staff have been cushioned by the fact that Hall was serving as the department’s investigator.

The department is going without a dedicated investigator for the time being, leaving longer-term cases to fall to patrol officers and, in turn, limiting their time for proactive patrol work, Eckerdt said.

“It’s a big impact,” he said of being short. “Fortunately, all of our people are quality and they’re stepping up to fill the void.”

Glick, who took a job with the Carbon County, Mont., Sheriff’s Office, had been with the department for more than 11 years. That included time with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s local task force.

Hall, who took a Michigan police job to be closer to family, had spent seven years with the department, including time on the DCI task force.

Starting pay for a Powell police officer is $17.85 an hour.

Other area departments have a higher pay scale, but that has not led to a depletion of officers over the years, the chief said. Some may offer a higher starting wage but that’s not always comparing apples to apples, he said.

That can be a tough sale with a prospective new officer, Eckerdt admitted. Applications are due Feb. 24 and can be downloaded at www.powellpolice.com.

The agency has 16 sworn peace officers when at full staff. That includes the chief, three patrol sergeants, a school resource officer and an officer assigned to DCI.

Eckerdt told the Powell City Council during a Feb. 9 workshop that he is interested in filling a lieutenant’s position, which has been vacant for several years.

A lieutenant would serve as the No. 2 person in the department and assume administrative duties, which would allow the sergeants to work more closely with patrol officers. Right now, the department is budgeted for 16 sworn officers but it has 14. He said the lieutenant could come from the ranks.

A dispatcher position is also vacant and will be filled.

(Tribune Managing Editor Tom Lawrence contributed to this report.)