Washington to Allow Non-citizens to Apply for Police Jobs

In the upper northwest — as is the case in many places in the United States — local police agencies have struggled recently to find qualified applicants for open positions.

That’s why legislators in Washington state passed Senate Bill 6145, which changes the qualifications for police and firefighter jobs to include “legal permanent residents” with a clean criminal record, according to KIMA-TV .

Previously, applicants had to be American citizens.

The change will allow an estimated 260,000 people to the candidate pool statewide.