The Santa Barbara Police Department has, for more than a year, been short on front-line officers.
Retirements, transfers and injuries have put the department in a position to aggressively hold testing dates and get officers through training.
Nine new officers were sworn in by new chief Lori Luhnow Thursday.
Eleven more recruits are going through training.
Chief Luhnow says the current team of new officers were already in the program when she was appointed this summer.
With the current recruits, the department is a young one.
About 30% of the officers have less than a year experience.