FROSTBURG — A Frostburg area woman is joining the Frostburg Police Department as a police communications officer after being selected from among more than four dozen applicants.

Sharon Stafford began her city employment as a civilian police dispatcher Thursday night after being named to the position by the city’s hiring board for the police department, according to Frostburg City Councilman Robert Flanigan.

Seven applicants were interviewed for the position out of 54 people who had applied for the job. All the interviewed applicants have experience in emergency medical services and radio dispatching.

“The decision-making process was extremely tough. We had very qualified people to choose from. There were a lot of factors involved in making our decision, including experience and the ability to respond to the station quickly in the event of a emergency,” said Flanigan, a former Frostburg City Police officer who serves as the city’s commissioner of public safety.

Stafford worked for approximately five years as a communications dispatcher with the Allegany County 911 center until the summer of 2008, Flanigan said.

Filling the dispatcher position will “allow us to keep a full complement of officers on the street,” he said.

Currently, there are 15 sworn officers in the department, including Chief William Evans and a DARE officer who serves schools in the western district of the Allegany County school system. There are also four police communications officers in the department, including Stafford.

The department’s table of organization is comprised of 16 officers. One position remains vacant due to “budgetary constraints,” Flanigan said.