(ABC 6 News) – Upcoming retirements at the Rochester Police Department have opened up at least 12 positions within the department, on top of numerous already vacant spots.

The department says its seen a significant decline in applicants in the last few years; 96 people applied in 2018, but that number dropped to 54 in 2023.

In response, RPD released a recruitment video today to attract new candidates to the force, hopefully to fill the roughly 20 total open positions.

“As the video talks about, the recruitment video, we want officers to come here to be part of a team. a team that works together and be apart of the community that supports them,” said RPD Lieutenant Paul Gronholz.

Rochester Police say, despite few people applying, the quality of candidates remained very high. Additionally, they say RPD has never been as diverse as it is right now.