AMES, Iowa — The Ames Police Department is looking to fill five open police officer positions.

The department has started continuing recruitment, holding tests bi-monthly for potential candidates in a bid to find more recruits.

“So the idea is every two weeks we do a testing process so people can apply and then we will test on a Friday morning, do physical fitness testing, written testing in the afternoon, we’ll do oral board interviews, and then we’re going to continue this process until hopefully, we can fill the positions,” said Major Jason Tuttle, the Public Information Officer at the Ames Police Department.

Once a recruit is hired, they need to attend the police academy and complete additional training before they can start patrol.

“Just because we hire somebody doesn’t mean that at that point we can put them in on a shift by themselves. And so they’ll have to go to the academy, which is 17 weeks long. They have to go through field training with us, which is another 12 weeks. And so that’s a long period of time,” Major Tuttle said.

The next round of testing is set for December 6th, with applications due this Wednesday, November 27th. To apply visit the city of Ames’ website.