ST. LOUIS | Chuck DeProw had job offers from the Police Department and the U.S. Steel plant in Granite City.</p><p> He chose the higher-paying factory job because he needed the money.</p><p> That was 20 years ago, but when the steel plant laid him off last December, DeProw decided it wasn&rsquo;t too late to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer.</p><p> &ldquo;If I had known then what I know now, I would have gone the other way,&rdquo; said DeProw, of Brighton, Ill. &ldquo;When I got laid off, it was like, &lsquo;This is my opportunity.&rsquo;&ensp;&rdquo;</p><p> At 45, DeProw was the oldest in a class that graduated Oct. 22 from the Eastern Missouri Police Academy in St. Charles County.</p><p> He is not alone in turning toward the traditionally stable career of police work in tough economic times. But as cities grapple with tight budgets, demand has slowed &mdash; sometimes dramatically &mdash; leaving some police academy graduates without jobs.</p><p> Last year, Missouri licensed 1,355 academy graduates to become police officers, a 46 percent increase from 2004. Through last week, the state already has issued 1,311 licenses this year.</p><p> Patrick Judge, the executive director of the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, said that the number of available police jobs varies by state, partially depending on how hard the recession has hit. Judge said he thinks the number of people seeking jobs in law enforcement and enrolling in training has remained about the same nationally.</p><p> Arnold Police Capt. Diane Scanga said instructors at the Jefferson College Law Enforcement Academy in Hillsboro are seeing an older crop of students, many from the private sector or the military.</p><p> &ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing a more second-career kind of person rather than the young person who&rsquo;s ready to save the world,&rdquo; Scanga said.</p><p> Jason Jamison, 31, a former Marine from south St. Louis County, is hoping police jobs are somewhat insulated from the economy as he awaits callbacks about job interviews from several departments. Jamison, who was laid off earlier this year from a marketing job, graduated a little more than a week ago from the academy in St. Charles County.</p><p> &ldquo;It would have been great to have graduated in a uniform, but I&rsquo;m confident there&rsquo;s a job out there for me,&rdquo; Jamison said.</p><p> DeProw, the ex-steelworker from Brighton, wants to move to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he is interviewing to be a patrolman. He hopes his criminal justice degree and volunteer experience with a police department will make him a top candidate.</p><p> &ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t wait to do my job,&rdquo; he said.