GovernmentExecutive.com

t's a great time to be a law enforcement officer. Hiring sprees across government mean that experienced officers can shop around for the best jobs. The Transportation Security Administration is hiring thousands of air marshals, uniformed officers and criminal investigators. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is hiring 20,000 Border Patrol agents, immigration inspectors and other law enforcement personnel over the next two years. The FBI is looking for 900 special agents and 1,450 support personnel this year.

Joanne Moffett, human resources chief for the Defense Security Service, has set up special recruiting days for college grads. Graduates are invited to DSS to spend a day with investigators to learn about the agency. Moffett's staff helps the grads fill out application forms. Moffett says the recruiting days work better than job fairs, in which she would have to compete with high-profile agencies such as the FBI and Secret Service. As a result, this summer's class of trainees will include 45 future investigators, up from the typical 25. "We got a better than expected return," she says.

The FBI, meanwhile, received 47,000 applications for special agent jobs between February and June. That's more applications than the bureau has received in the last four years combined. The agency had hired about 500 agents as of June and expected to hire the remaining 400 by the end of the year. "We do have people from other federal agencies who want to come to the FBI to get at the forefront of homeland security," says Joseph Bross, the FBI's recruitment supervisor.

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e do have people from other federal agencies who want to come to the FBI to get at the forefront of homeland security." The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has called up 27 former agents to serve as recruiters during a current drive to increase the staff by 170 and to prepare for the departures of 142 officers eligible to retire. OPM has allowed some agencies to bring back retirees without docking their pensions. So the 27 former naval investigators are working part-time talking up potential hires, conducting background checks and setting up interviews. The retirees have helped recruitment leader Teresa Highsmith slash the time it takes to get new hires on board. In the tight market for law enforcement jobs, speed is a competitive advantage.

Agencies also add to their applicant pools by offering online hiring. The FBI accepts applications on FBIJobs.com, while the INS, which has received 140,000 applications for Border Patrol and immigration inspector jobs, takes applications through OPM's Web site.

All of the extra hiring means business is booming at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. The Treasury Department's academy in Glynco, Ga., offers boot camp and refresher training for many federal law enforcement officers. Enrollment at the center has almost doubled this year to 50,000 trainees, up from 26,000 last year.