The Peekskill Police Department anticipates several openings in the department over the next couple of years and they want to hire local residents to fill those jobs. However, local residents have consistently failed to score high enough on the civil service exam, which is only administered every four years.

Peekskill's Lieutenant Eric Johansen is working to change that.

In order to help locals achieve the top scores required to land a job at any police department, Lt. Johansen has spearheaded a free civil service exam training program.

"I'm a firm believer that you need to undertand diversity to serve in a diverse community. There is no better way to understand it than to have lived it and Peekskill is a very diverse community," Johansen said.

The next test will be given in Fall 2012. Johansen has recruited six other officers to help with the sessions and hopes to draw interested students. They will all be volunteering their time.

Students must be high school graduates by the time of the test and must be eligible, or must become eligible, to take the civil service exam by November.

All are invited to the seminars and are welcome to attend one or all. The seminars will be held on Feb. 15, March 21 and April 18 from 6 to 7 p.m. in the downstairs room at the Field Library building.

More dates will be scheduled as the exam date approaches.

To learn more call the Peekskill police department at 914-737-8000.

*Editor's Notes: A GED or a high school diploma qualifies candidates to take the test. An earlier version of this article stated that a GED would not suffice. We regret the error.