The Lakewood Police Department values the hiring of skilled, experienced and dedicated police professionals through a lateral entry program. Lateral applicants must meet the hiring requirements for new recruits, including possessing a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. Lateral applicants must have an active peace officer certification and at least three years of police patrol experience. The experience must have occurred in a similar environment and policing experience such as federal, railroad, private police, military and collegiate law enforcement will not be considered. While each lateral applicant’s qualification and performance are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, most Colorado certified laterals spend two weeks in a police academy setting and most out-of-state laterals spend less than two months in a police academy setting. Lateral agents are eligible for an abbreviated field training program as short as six weeks.
As of March 2024, Lateral pay starts at $97,211.79 for those with at least 3 years of experience, 4 years comes in at $103,724.98 and 5 years or more starts at $114,380.00.
Lateral agents complete a reduced probationary period of one year, subject to their performance. Lateral agents are eligible to compete for certain specialized assignments after successfully completing probation and are eligible for all specialized assignments and promotion to sergeant after only two years of service.
If you are interested in applying or if you have questions, please reach out to us at LPDRecruiting@LakewoodCO.org.