The Morgantown Police Department hosted its first open house for women Wednesday evening at the Morgantown Public Safety Training Facility on Earl L. Core Road to encourage local women to learn more about working in law enforcement.
In 2022, the Morgantown Police Department became a part of the national 30×30 initiative, which established a goal to achieve 30% women recruits by the year 2030.
The department currently has five female officers on staff and 57 total officers. There are also 21 current vacancies.
Nearly 20 young women, mostly local students from programs like M-Tech and WVU Forensic Sciences, attended the event, which included an open group discussion with MPD Lt. Molly Linthicum, an 18-year member of the department, and the chance to try out various scenarios on the training simulator. Attendees were also welcome to tour the facility.
“Our department, above anything else, values the feeling of family, the feeling of commitment, pride and professionalism. That’s what I think our department is about, that’s what we strive for every day, that’s what we do on a daily basis,” Chief Eric Powell said as he welcomed the group. “The thing about the law enforcement profession is … at the end of the day you can have a real sense of accomplishment, you have a sense of having a positive impact in a person’s life.
“There’s always good and there’s always bad in any job that you want to do, but I think that when you get down to the brass tacks of getting something out of a profession, getting something out of a job, what you take away from being a police officer is … having a direct and meaningful impact on people’s lives,” he said.
Linthicum discussed the process of applying to the department and the testing and training required as well as benefits and specialization and growth opportunities within the department.
She said, at times, female officers can face stigmas from the past where people do not see them as authority figures, but that has been changing over the years and they have gained a lot of respect.
For the ladies attending the event or those who may be hesitant to pursue a law enforcement career, Linthicum said, “Anybody no matter your size or mentality – you can do the job. It just takes a little more authority, but that can come with the job and with training.”
Several members of Morgantown City Council as well as City Ambassadors were also in attendance and happy to see a good turnout.
“It’s no secret that the city is struggling with our law enforcement numbers so having an event like this, showing a diverse group of people that law enforcement is a job that is open to them, they would be welcomed into the ranks, and we really value those types of employees,” said Danielle Trumble, Morgantown deputy mayor.
“We’re working really hard to improve our numbers and we’re looking at all of our options,” Council member Louise “Weez” Michael added, “but this is a great start and being a female that works in law enforcement, we are just very, very supportive of this and we want things to get better and improve.”
MPD Training Coordinator Lt. Chad Reyes was also pleasantly surprised with the number of women in attendance.
“It’s always helpful to have females on the force. Right now I think we have five and they are all currently on the night shift, so it would be nice to have more spread across the department,” Reyes said. “There’s not usually much interest in females wanting to work as a police officer – it’s just the nature of the job.”
For anyone, male or female, Reyes advised, “I would do a lot of research and make sure it’s something you are interested in doing. Number one, you should be a people person – that’s the biggest aspect of the job: knowing how to talk to people and how to deal with people.”
“With any officer there’s a desire to recruit people that really believe in what your mission is and what you are trying to accomplish and buy into the notion of helping people,” Powell said of his ideal recruit. “All the traits of a good officer are the traits that you would want to have or that you would want to see in your kids – things like honesty, trustworthiness, dependability and pride.”
Powell said more people attended the event than he expected, and the department will likely do similar events at the training facility in the future.
“When we first envisioned this facility, part of the function was community outreach and community connections and making those connections with community members and part of that is having events and open houses and ways for people to come connect and see what it is we’re doing so it’s not so out of sight and people can become more familiar with what we do and how we train, why we train the way we train, and just to gain a better understanding of their police department,” Powell said.
MPD will be testing for new officers at 9 a.m. Oct. 28. To learn more about the requirements and how to apply visit morgantownpd.com.
