Countywide : Police Press Campaigns for Recruits

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters on Wednesday introduced a campaign to recruit more local applicants for some of the toughest jobs on the streets.

Billboards portraying a smiling Officer John Aguilar and a slogan, “Earn Our Academy Award,” will be installed around Santa Ana as part of the city’s $50,000 advertising effort to recruit police applicants.

The first billboard went up Wednesday at 3rd and Bristol streets, just three blocks from where Aguilar grew up--a point not lost on Walters, who wants to attract local Latino applicants.

“We’re hoping that he’ll make an influence on the young people in our community to grow up and become police officers,” Walters said.

Over the next year, 25 billboards and 25 bus shelter advertisements will be installed at various places in Santa Ana.

Other Orange County cities are also turning to advertising and other promotions to recruit applicants. Recruiting Officer Dave Hill of the Orange Police Department said he has had to flood the advertising market to fill police positions.

“We also advertise in newspapers and trade journals--I was even on a game show (Classic Concentration) and put in a plug,” said Hill, adding that Orange has five police openings. “We even got a call from Toronto.”

Santa Ana has openings for 17 patrol officers and hopes to add another 10 investigator jobs when the city adopts its new budget, Walters said.

Applicants must pass exhaustive tests and a background check that includes credit history and driving records, said Lt. Marty Shirey, investigator.

“We look at the person’s total background,” she said.

Although standards have not been lowered in an effort to find more recruits, the city has removed some of the obstacles to applying for the jobs, she said.

For example, in three months the department will replace an old test with a general knowledge test that will require less study to pass. The city now issues a book concerning laws and police procedure that applicants must study to pass the test, Shirey said.

“We get liars and people who have been fired from three or four jobs,” she said. “What we’re looking for is sound judgement, maturity and that they show some responsibility and honesty.”

The problem isn’t in finding enough applicants, Walters said, but in finding people who will survive the screening.

“Out of every 100 applicants, we only hire one,” he said. “We just want to maintain the highest standards.”

Walters said Aguilar was chosen to be a Police Department spokesman because of his ties to the community, his cultural background and his career achievements.

“Growing up in this town, I have a little more sincere feeling about this city and this community,” Aguilar said.

He joined the Orange Police Department in 1977 and was named officer of the year in 1980. He has worked in law enforcement on the federal level and is now assigned as an investigator of sexual assault crimes in Santa Ana.

The job pool has changed over the last few years, said Lt. Greg Cooper, who recruits and trains officers for Santa Ana. For example, out of 212 people who applied for police positions in June, 60% failed to show up for the initial written test. There’s also an agility test, medical examination, oral test, psychological test and background check.

In the end, Cooper expects to hire two or three potential officers from the 212 applications. These few will attend the police academy for more than three months, then take 16 weeks of field training.

In Irvine, where there are two unfilled police jobs, Sgt. Jeff Kermode says he has seen a change in the job force.

“There is a different work ethic now. People are into 9-to-5,” he said. “They want to do their job, earn their pay, and leave.”

Huntington Beach also has five openings on its police staff and the Tustin Police Department has four.