Police Promote Careers at Job Fair

El Segundo police Officer Calvin Smith grew up in South-Central Los Angeles, where he could have taken the criminal path of some of his friends.

Instead, he went into law enforcement, studying criminal justice at El Camino College and California State University, Long Beach, before joining the El Segundo force four years ago.

“A lot of the guys I grew up with are in jail or on drugs,” Smith said, adding that as a police officer, “I hope I can enlighten people to stay away from these things.”

Smith and officers from more than 40 other California law enforcement agencies were out in force Saturday trying to recruit some of the several thousand men and women attending the South Bay Law Enforcement Career Expo at Alondra Park in Lawndale.

Law enforcement officials say such events are becoming more common as an increasing need for personnel conflicts with a declining interest in law enforcement as a career and a high washout rate among applicants. Earlier this year, there were expos at East Los Angeles College and Cal State Long Beach. In the fall, one will be held in Valencia.

“What we hope for, really, is to put out the information that a career in law enforcement is a viable career,” said Sgt. Nick Lopez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which sponsored the fair.

Lopez said expos are the ideal place to “present all of the benefits, salary scales and job diversity,” and also to debunk the myths about police work, which in reality consists more of clerical work than of high-speed chases. “It is a dangerous job at times, but not the TV-type danger. On TV, there is more shooting than we do in a whole career.”

Said Redondo Beach Sgt. John Gordon: “It’s an opportunity for us to come out, see what the competition is doing, and talk to some good candidates.”

During the first hour and a half, Gordon said, he talked to six people who would be good officers in his city, which has five openings for police officers.

The expo was also useful for job seekers. Pasadena residents Jeff Chavez, 22, and Eric Dirksen, 23, said it was more convenient to have a large number of agencies in one location than having to contact each one individually.

Chavez and Dirksen are both college students who want to be police officers. For both, the attractions are pay--starting salaries for high school graduates are about $30,000--and job security. “There always will be bad people,” Dirksen said.

The departments brought their showcase units and mountains of printed information and photo displays to make their pitch at the fair. A sheriff’s SWAT team displayed high-powered weaponry, and police equestrian and canine units gave demonstrations.

Police departments from most of the South Bay and as far away as Oakland and San Diego were represented, as well as several sheriff’s departments and federal agencies.

San Diego police Officer Mark Taylor said his department “goes out of town a lot” to recruit officers because of the demand for personnel. The 1,700-officer department is hiring 160 new officers.

‘We’ve Made Out’

“If we get two people out of this, we’ve made out,” said Taylor, who said it cost his department $500 to be represented at the Lawndale expo.

The Sheriff’s Department also has a hiring push, Lopez said, with 1,000 vacancies in the current fiscal year and about 750 expected in each of the four years beyond that.

Los Angeles police Officer Luis Hernandez said the LAPD is looking for 750 police officers this year, with an emphasis on women and ethnic minorities. The department is under a federal consent decree mandating that 22.5% of new hires will be in those categories.

In the South Bay, El Segundo has an opening for two police officers and two records clerks; Hermosa Beach wants to hire two or three officers; Inglewood needs two or three officers, particularly officers who speak Spanish, and plans to hire 20 more if a special police service tax passes in November.

“There will be 8,000 to 10,000 openings in the state in the next year,” said Cmdr. Charles Bodza of the Irvine Police Department, who is also a criminal justice instructor at Cal State Long Beach.

Salaries, Benefits Key

Law enforcement officials say excellent salaries and benefits are a key to attracting the typical recruit, a high school graduate from a blue-collar family who has never held a career job or lived away from home.

Bodza said that is a dramatic change from 25 years ago, when “the typical person (going into police work) was of a conservative background. Their parents were middle-income professionals, and they had one or two years of college.”

Lopez said sheriff’s trainees with high school diplomas start at $30,422 a year. Hernandez said the LAPD starts officers at $31,000 a year with high school diplomas, $34,000 with a bachelor’s degree.

In the South Bay, some representative monthly starting salaries are $2,427 in Hawthorne, $2,023 in El Segundo, $2,472 in Hermosa Beach and $2,361 in Inglewood.

Rigorous Testing

Recruiters say the majority of applicants never make it all the way through the rigorous testing and training.

Said Bodza: “One out of 10 that apply complete the process and become law enforcement officers.”

About 12% are washed out on the psychological examinations, he said, when departments weed out the “Dirty Harry types . . . and those prone to addiction to alcohol, drugs and overeating.”

In the Sheriff’s Department, only 2.5% complete the recruitment procedure and are hired, Lopez said. Poor reading and writing skills are major causes of failure.

Drug Offenses

Others are washed out in the background check because of drug offenses. Marijuana use may or may not rule out an applicant in some departments, but a recorded felony--for drugs or other crimes--is an automatic disqualifier.

“A lot apply but don’t show for the written exam, and a bunch of those don’t pass,” said El Segundo personnel Sgt. Gene Kaiser. “Ninety percent are gone by the end of the process.”

Torrance police community relations Sgt. Ron Traber, a 21-year member of the department, said the changing nature of young people contributes to the high failure rate: “When I came through, the preponderance of people came along with military backgrounds. Police training is similar to boot camp. It was easier for them to get through training. For today’s kids, it’s like culture shock.”

Sellers’ Market

Lt. David Garza, a personnel and training officer for the Inglewood Police Department, said it is a sellers’ market for the top candidates. “Young people who are really qualified, particularly minorities, can make more money in private business.”

Law enforcement officials, as well as several potential candidates at the fair, said people go into police work out of a desire to help others.

Said Garza, an Inglewood officer for 28 years: “The majority have this little bit of need to help society, the rescue syndrome. I did.” And in police work, he said, “you see the whole gambit of life and death. . . . There’s nothing like it.”

But Bodza said interest in law enforcement is declining for reasons he can’t explain: “It may not be as glamorous as it once was when those coming out of the military wanted to be in law enforcement. The young adult of today does not want the control and regimentation we have.”

‘A lot of the guys I grew up with are in jail or on drugs. I hope I can enlighten people to stay away from these things.’