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First Posted: 1/31/2014 WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The city police department will bring on experienced police officers next month when new hires are added to the force.
Among the candidates are Mark Hilpp, a former city officer and director of the Public Safety Training Institute at Luzerne County Community College, and former Scranton Police Chief Daniel Duffy, who also is director of the Police Academy at Lackawanna College.
Hilpp was listed at the top of the list of the 50 people on the certified hiring list released Jan. 17 by the city&#8217;s police civil service commission. Duffy was third.
Hilpp could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Lisa Nelson, a spokeswoman for LCCC, said in an e-mail that Hilpp is resigning as the training institute&#8217;s director effective Feb. 7. His salary at the school is $53,155.
Hilpp was named director last summer and brought 13 years experience as police officer locally and in Texas and 19 years of military service to the post. He also was hired as a part-time police officer in Fairview Township last July.
Duffy referred questions to Lackawanna College&#8217;s public relations department. College spokeswoman Wendy Evans confirmed Duffy was on the Wilkes-Barre hiring list.
&#8220;He is still actively staying on with our police academy&#8221; and remains &#8220;heavily involved,&#8221; Evans said.
Duffy, who joined the force in 1998, stepped down as Scranton&#8217;s chief in July 2012 to take the director&#8217;s position at the academy. He was named chief in 2010 and earned the reputation of an around-the-clock cop as he made arrests while off-duty and engaged the public to get involved through the &#8220;Be Part of the Solution&#8221; campaign to build trust and strengthen the relationship between the police department and the community.
Wilkes-Barre spokeswoman Liza Prokop said she would forward a request for information on the police hirings. However, there was no response from city officials Friday afternoon.
While announcing his proposed $42.7 million budget for 2014 last October Mayor Tom Leighton promised to hire at least 10 officers this year at a cost of approximately $100,000 each. The money would come from the city&#8217;s general fund and increase the force to 85. The hires will fill some vacancies in the department, he said.

Ex-Scranton police chief to be added to W-B force