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The Michigan State Police is bracing for a slew of retirements over the next five years.
Over 400 troopers could retire between 2016 and 2020.
Michigan State Police Captain Greg Zarotney tells a Michigan House panel it will take upwards of 1,000 prospective troopers to fill those vacancies.
That’s because the state police is short 417 troopers, using a 1,557 trooper benchmark. If 400 more troopers leave that creates a gap of 800 troopers.
Zarotney says a key to not having to deal with mass retirements in the future is to have more consistent recruit classes to balance out retirements from year to year.
For instance, in 2017 five troopers are expected to retire. But in 2020 221 troopers are expected to turn in their badge.
