Chicago Police Department relaxes recruiting requirements

CHICAGO - The Chicago Police Department is making it easier than ever to join the force.

Superintendent David Brown announced on Thursday that it will waive its requirement that recruits have at least 60 hours of college credit for candidates that have experience in certain fields such as health care and education.

The move is designed to expand the pool of candidates as the department sees a spike in retirements.

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"There are a very diverse pool of candidates across all these careers that we've talked about, healthcare, social services especially, and also education. But to also include the trades, I think there's diversity and life skills that will benefit this profession enormously," Brown said.

Numbers released earlier this year show Chicago lost 900 officers last year while only adding 247 new recruits.