BATON ROUGE - With the help of a massive pay raise and billboards across the city promoting it, the Baton Rouge Police Department is seeing a major uptick in applicants.

Pay raises for BRPD officers were first proposed back in March, creating what city officials say is the largest pay increase in the department's history.

"If we want to keep the best, we have to show them we value them. For too long our officers have been asked to do too much with less, fewer colleagues, heavier workloads, and pay that simply didn't reflect the sacrifices that they make every single day," Mayor-President Sid Edwards said during the March press conference.

The Metro Council passed the raises a month later, increasing the starting salary for officers from $40,000 to $58,000.

Earlier this year, BRPD was short-staffed by over 150 officers. Corporal Saundra Watts says that number remains relatively the same, as they still have officers retiring.

"That deficit won't happen overnight, but it will be more chipping away at the block, and eventually that larger number will become a smaller number," Watts said.

And since the approval of the pay raises, they are seeing increased interest in people looking to join the department.

"We have seen nearly a 300% increase compared to last year of inquiries of persons that want to be a part of the Baton Rouge City Police Department," Watts said.

Although the department is seeing a significant increase in the number of people inquiring to work for the department, it's a pretty lengthy process for a person to become a city police officer.

Watts says the application process can take well over a year, as applicants must go through an extensive background check and meet physical fitness requirements.

"Go through the oral interview board, pass the oral interview board, the chief looks over these applicants, he makes his determination based on all of those things, and they come through the academy process," she said.

On average, one to two training academies are held annually, with between 20 and 30 seats available.

"With the support of the mayor's office and the community, we can get those seats filled, and get those prospective officers out on the streets and making a difference," Watts said.

BRPD says they are currently reviewing applications for the January 2027 academy.

The Baton Rouge Police Department is currently implementing its new police support specialist program for retirees. Interest in that program, BRPD says, is high as well.