Experience often is among the key factors companies consider when hiring new employees. Is it an entry-level job, meaning experience isn’t that important? Or is the job key to the company’s immediate success, meaning experience counts?

The Lawrence Police Department (the company) serves and protects the city’s residents (its customers). The police department, under interim police chief Tarik Khatib, made a sound business decision to go with experience when filling six open positions on the police force. In this instance, experience counts.

When advertising for the jobs last November, the department asked for officers with at least two years of experience. It was the first time department leaders had used this tactic since 2001.

Last Monday, six law enforcement officers, all veterans from across the state, were sworn in as Lawrence police recruits. The new officers hail from the sheriff’s departments of Jackson, Seward and Hamilton counties, the Kansas University Public Safety Office and the Bonner Springs Police Department.

Because they have experience, the officers will be on the street within a month, starting with three months of field training. Had they been fresh recruits, the department would have had to wait 23 weeks while the new hires were trained at the police academy before starting their field training. That’s most of a year before they would be full-fledged officers — and that assumes they pass the muster.

For the city, hiring experienced officers makes sense. The new hires come with on-the-job experience and are on the street months earlier.

It’s a good business decision for the department.