ST. LOUIS • Up to 50 of the next police recruits hired to be officers will not have to live in the city they patrol.

Mayor Lyda Krewson announced Friday that the Civil Service Commission at her behest will waive the city’s residency requirement, which has mandated that police officers live in the city for their first seven years on the job.

She believes the move will help boost recruitment for the department, which is dozens of officers short of a full roster.

“Public safety is my No. 1 priority. We have been running two Police Academy classes at a time, we started a cadet program, we have advertised, but we are still down between 130 to 150 officers on any given day,” Krewson said in a prepared statement. “This is an issue of public safety. Waiving the residency requirement will help us broaden our recruiting efforts.”

The new policy will not affect any of the city’s current officers, according to Krewson’s office.

And recruits who get residency waivers will have to live within an hour’s drive of the city.