Jon Thorup is splitting his time these days between his regular job as a state trooper, and his upcoming role as State Representative, and he says he plans on hitting the ground running when his term begins.

Thorup is vice chair for the House Public Safety committee; his background in law enforcement led him there, and he says the state has to take action to bring more first responders to the job.

He tells KNIA/KRLS News many rural fire and rescue departments are having trouble filling their rosters, especially those which use volunteers.

“Volunteerism amongst fire departments and rescue, pretty much anybody in that category, fire and rescue, we’re almost all volunteer out here. And it’s getting harder and harder to recruit and retain people in those categories,” Thorup says.

“We really need them; we don’t need them until we need them, and I know that may sound simple but it’s the way it is. So I’m gonna start looking for ways to maybe make it a little bit easier to recruit and retain those folks.”

Thorup is also aware of the problems police departments have finding full-time staff, which is partly because of the general problem with finding help in an area with low unemployment. He says the state can look at ways to streamline the hiring process while maintaining the standards police departments want their officers to meet, and possibly update physical fitness benchmarks.