Back in the day (only about four years ago, actually), it was common for the Garden Grove PD to get about 1,200 or so applicants during its quarterly recruitment drives for new officers. Now, at a time when fewer young men and women are interested in a career in law enforcement, and looser budgets have agencies fiercely competing against each other for new hires, the GGPD is attracting only between 200 and 400 applicants during each recruitment campaign. Despite the dramatic drop in the number of potential future officers, the GGPD is on quite a hiring binge, with 44 new…