The recruiting environment for police officers has become very competitive over the past several years. While we used to be able to recruit individuals from Madison Area Technical College (MATC) police academy, that is no longer the case. In the past, individuals would put themselves through the police academy to be more marketable for hire. Now, other departments are paying new hires to attend the academy while we do not have the funding to do so. Additionally, due to limited seat availability at the academy, Dane County agencies are having to send new hires as far as Appleton for recruit training. Ultimately, given the labor market today, seats for MATC are difficult to secure and graduates are already hired. The pool we have available to recruit from has changed significantly.