PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — It's no secret that Port St. Lucie has been growing at a rapid pace. Many residents said they’ve noticed how much their once small city has changed.
“Especially in the last 3 1/2 years it's grown immensely,” Randy Godich said.
“Definitely, definitely, yeah with the traffic and everything, yes,” Doreen Sasarik added.
With that growth comes a need for more law enforcement, Port St. Lucie Police Chief Richard Del Toro said.
"We had a five-year plan beginning of last year to get from 1.2 officers to 1.6 officers per thousand residents," Del Toro said about the city, which has a population of 217,523 as of 2021. "That's what we're aiming to do to make sure we remain the safest city in the state of Florida."
A partnership with Indian River State College is helping make that happen.
Del Toro said recruiting retention is extremely important right now because they are competing with so many other agencies for officers.
"It’s the first time in the history of Indian River State College that an actual police department or sheriff's office on the Treasure Coast will have their very own academy class," Del Toro said.
The police academy will add 30 new officers to the Port St. Lucie Police Department in a six-month training program.
Tuition and fees for the cadets will be covered by the Florida Law Enforcement Academy scholarship.
Officer Mauricio Garcia recently joined PSL PD after completing his police academy training, but he had to pay his way.
“It would have taken a lot of stress off of my shoulders. I did the police academy night class 13 months, five days a week and working full time during the day," Garcia said.
The agency is still looking for another 17 cadets to start the program in May.
It's an effort that residents said they’re happy to see the department prioritizing.
"If they don’t get on it now it will probably get out of hand," Godich said.
"I really feel their job is hard enough and if they don't do that it's just going to put more stress on them and the community," Sasarik said.