AUBURN – Citing a pressing need to generate more police officers, Central Maine Community College will add a new degree program: criminal justice.

The Maine Community College System Board of Trustees unanimously approved the new program Wednesday. The associate degree program will begin this fall, said CMCC President Scott Knapp.

“We have been offering some criminal justice courses over the last few years, but we’ve had a lot of demand for a degree program from high school students, people coming out of the Lewiston Regional Technical Center,” Knapp said. “We get a lot of requests from people coming out of the armed forces, from serving police officers who don’t have degrees.”

There is an increasing shortage of people who qualify for police jobs in state and local police agencies, Knapp said.

The shortage is fueled by an aging work force and higher need for officers. From now through 2014, Maine Department of Labor statistics project growth in law enforcement jobs of 4.5 percent to 24.3 percent, depending on the job.

Andover College in Lewiston now offers a criminal justice degree program, said Director of Admissions Matthew Cote. A similar program at CMCC would be beneficial to the community, Cote said, because there’s such a need.

Lewiston Police Chief William Welch agreed, saying his applicant pool has shrunk.

“One of the issues we all are facing is recruitment. We’re having difficulty getting qualified applicants. A few years ago I got 150. Now I’m lucky if I can get 20. The problem is country wide.”

Police work is difficult, “but it’s always been difficult,” Welch said. “The pay is good, but you’re not going to be a millionaire. It takes a different kind of person.” After 9/11 he saw a higher number of applicants and a renewed dedication to public service. Since then “that’s faded. We’re not seeing as many qualified applicants.”

Some of Lewiston police officers have graduated from the University of Maine, Southern Maine Community College or Andover College. Welch said he’d welcome a program at the Central Maine Community College. “The more the better.”

Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins agreed. What’s needed is affordable programs with students not having to drive to South Portland. Future police officers who couldn’t afford a traditional college have been going into the military. There needs to be another option, Desjardins said.

Police administrators say it’s unusual for them to hire officers without a two- or four-year degree. In the last few decades police work “has gone from being a job to a profession,” Welch said. Today’s officers need social worker and people skills and an ability to write reports. A military background also helps, as does “common sense,” Welch said.

CMCC student Matt Sceviour, 18, of Boothbay Harbor, plans to enroll in the new program this fall.

He said he’s long been interested in law enforcement. “My dad’s a police officer for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. My brother just graduated from Thomas College. He’s going to be a police officer.”

He chose CMCC in part because it’s affordable. “It will be nice to get out of college and not be in debt,” Sceviour said. Counting room and board, CMCC costs him between $8,000 to $9,000 a year, compared to Thomas, which costs $25,000, Sceviour said. His brother borrowed “a lot” and “is so far in debt.”

This fall an expected 25 to 30 students will enroll in the new program, which will offer a regular criminal justice two-year degree, and a criminal justice degree specializing in computer forensics. The forensics program will be for investigating criminal evidence on computers, a growing field.

Graduates will be able to work for state, local and county law enforcement agencies, or with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The new program is designed to allow students to continue their education to get a bachelor’s degree at another college or university, Knapp said. Maine’s community colleges offer two-year degrees.

Knapp said his first teaching job in a community college was 33 years ago when he taught criminal justice. Adding the program “feels very good to me,” he said. “This completes the college. This is the last degree program most community colleges have that we don’t.”