Groton — Town Police Captain Steven Sinagra sat for the written police exam in 1988 with hundreds of other people wanting to be officers.

"Now we're getting a list of maybe 20 to 25 people to choose from," he said. After the written exam, agility test, chief's review and interviews, the department might end up with a handful left.

Last year, four candidates made it that far. Three failed the polygraph test and one didn't clear the background check, Acting Town Police Chief Steve Smith said.

Police in Groton and Norwich say there's a shortage of qualified applicants for officer jobs, not only in their communities but across the region.

"The polygraph test is knocking people out like crazy," Groton Human Resources Director Bob Zagami told the town council last week.

In Groton Town, the department has sought to fill jobs in recent years due to retirements, promotions and officers leaving for other departments or professions. The town now has a relatively young force. Of its 40 patrol officers, 32 have fewer than 10 years' experience, Smith said.

Norwich Sgt. Steve Lamantini, in charge of training and selections for Norwich police, said that department is in a similar situation. Norwich has hired 40 patrol officers in the last four years, and is still down two officers. Of the 76 patrol officers working, 56 have fewer than 10 years' experience, Lamantini said.

"That's our biggest problem: a shortage of candidates," he said, adding, "Do you know how many people we had to look at to hire 40 people? Hundreds."

Groton and Norwich both use the Law Enforcement Council, a non-profit organization that serves 20 departments in the eastern Connecticut region, to obtain a list of candidates who have taken and passed the written entry exam.

The agency offers the test monthly. Candidates who pass remain on the list of potential officers for one year, director Les Williams said. The agency does not track whether people on the list have been hired or excluded by departments somewhere in the process. 

But many cannot meet police testing standards, Williams said. Every month, about 50 to 60 people take the written exam, of whom about 25 to 30 pass. The academic exam tests for high school level skills, including basic math, reading comprehension and ability to follow directions. 

Of those who pass the written exam, 90 percent fail the agility test that follows, Williams said.

The physical test includes sit-ups, push-ups and running, with the criteria based on age and gender.

"Possibly the wrong kind of people are interested in the job, as evidenced by the attrition rate in the process," Williams said.

About two years ago, he said, one local police department sent 112 letters to candidates who had passed the written exam and invited them to take the agility test. Thirty-eight people answered and said they'd be there.

But on the day of the test, only 22 showed up. Of those, 16 people passed, Williams said.

After police narrowed the list to 16, an officer recognized the name of one of the candidates. There was a warrant out for his arrest, Williams said.

The list of people who had passed the written test in the past year stood at about 350 people six months ago but may include people who have taken jobs at other departments or failed the agility test elsewhere. Many departments have already seen it, Williams said. So they wait for updates that come out each month after the test results are in. 

Along with candidates who don't qualify, the area has turned out some excellent candidates, Williams said. But there is competition for these applicants, and they can choose where they want to work.

The agency canceled its exam for May, after a relative few — about 20 — expressed interest in taking the written test.

Departments also recruited from the pool this month before the April test was even over. At the April written exam, Groton City and New London police departments had a representative waiting in the lobby to greet people as they left and explain the benefits of working for their departments, Williams said.

Lamantini said the Norwich Department has been going to job fairs and recruiting in recent years, something it never had to do before.

"I just don't know if the people want to do this job anymore," he said. "It's a difficult job."

And the process is involved. After the written test, agility test, interviews, background investigation, polygraph test, psychological exam, medical exam and drug screening, candidates in Norwich go through an approval process that includes a second physical agility test.

The polygraph exam is particularly hard for some people to pass, police said. The test measures blood pressure, sweat production and other physiological changes that occur while someone is answering a series of questions, said Sgt. Chris Conley, who administers the polygraph in Norwich. The test is also videotaped.

It can last from two to four hours, he said. Stressful?

"Stressful is pulling over a car at 2 a.m. by yourself," Conley said.

There are two ways the polygraph can deem a candidate unsuitable, he said. One is if the test reveals something about a person's past that the department won't accept. But in Norwich, candidates are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and compared to other qualifying candidates. So what an applicant might fear would disqualify them could turn out to be relatively inconsequential.

For example, if he asks candidates if they were "speeding on the way to the exam," what he expects is a truthful answer. Conley tells applicants over and over that it's an integrity test, he said. 

Often, he said people withhold information because they're afraid they'll be disqualified by something that wouldn't have disqualified them anyway. If they lie or withhold information, no matter how small, they fail. No exceptions.

"How do I know there's not more?" Conley said. If someone would lie to a polygraph examiner to get a job, they might lie later if their report about an incident were challenged, he said.

"We want to know, even if they've made a mistake, they're going to tell the truth about it," he said.

Groton recently had two sergeants retire and two officers leave, which will ultimately open four jobs for patrol officers, Smith said. It takes months before a candidate even gets to the police academy, a 10-month process, police said.

Smith said Groton may pursue recruiting.

"I think we're not alone in this, and we're exploring the possibility of getting involved in visits to campuses and job fairs," he said.

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim