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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
A unique and creative response to the recruiting challenge that confronts many law enforcement agencies is a program developed by Chief Andrew Scott of the Boca Raton (FL) Police Services Department (BRPSD). The BRPSD was impacted by an early retirement buy-out that left the department with 22 openings for police officers. Boca Raton had difficulty in attracting recruits to better represent the ethnicity of the community. Chief Scott, in a novel approach to attract officers, offers to sit down with potential recruits at their dinner table and talk about a job in Boca Raton law enforcement. First the department studied the way police officer recruits were reached, assessed the quality of applicants, examined the motivation and quality of life interests of Generation X’ers, and researched the reasons for the decrease in the city’s pool of applicants. Acting upon what it learned, the department chose to proactively locate potential candidates, and to convince them that a career as a police officer, especially at Boca Raton, was a good decision. Chief Scott, working with the city administration and the police union, successfully increased the starting salary to be on par with surrounding agencies and instituted a salary step plan. He arranged for take-home patrol cars. The department recruitment pamphlet was redesigned to emphasize human and professional diversity. The department organized a recruitment team with officers, the best of the department, interested in promoting BRPSD at college campuses and job fairs. Chief Scott arranged with an outside agency to develop a campaign to reach potential applicants and their families. TYCO International donated $55,000 to finance the initiative. With the donation, Chief Scott launched Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? The campaign invited citizens to contact the department to arrange a dinner with the chief of police. The caller decided if they wanted the department to supply dinner, or if they wanted to cook for the chief themselves. The campaign was designed to answer applicants’ tough questions while in the comfort of their homes and with their families. Chief Scott announced at the beginning of the recruitment campaign that if he could not attend the dinner himself, a senior staff member would take his place. The chief attended every dinner commitment except one, and true to his promise, he sent an assistant chief. The announcement of this creative approach to recruitment created a media blitz. All of the local stations and newspapers carried the story. When the story reached the Associated Press wire, national interest grew. Several newspapers in the northeast carried the piece. The Los Angeles Times ran a front-page article about the department’s recruitment efforts. The agency reports that the campaign was a success and the response overwhelming. The department received over 300 calls from all over the country. Most of the people inquiring did not request dinner with the chief. Instead, they desired answers to questions about the community and the job and to learn more about the application process. One officer has been hired and several others are being processed. It is the first time in many years that the department has an eligibility list, the result of a yearlong commitment to overcome recruitment difficulties. Chief Scott has also received national recognition from women’s organizations for his commitment to, and record of accomplishment on recruiting and promoting women on the police force.
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