As need grows for officers, new recruiting tactics emerge

Ads are making appearances on jerseys and movie theater screens.
DAYTON (AP) -- Police around the country are aggressively recruiting job candidates, squeezed by retirements of baby boomers and competition from higher-paying private jobs and federal law enforcement.
"We're not able to find as many qualified applicants as we've had in the past," lamented Montgomery County Sheriff David Vore, who is advertising statewide for 12 deputies and eight corrections officers. "I can't explain it. It just doesn't appear people want to come into law enforcement like they did."
Police recruiters in Oakland, Calif., plan to buy a mobile home within six months so they can travel to out-of-state military bases and colleges to administer tests. Recruiters for New York City's police department hand out coffee mugs on college campuses. Throwback baseball jerseys with green and yellow trim and the words "Join Our Team" on the back are turning deputies in Los Angeles County into recruiting billboards.
'Whatever it takes'
"We're going to drive, fly and do whatever it takes," said Sgt. Jon Madarang, recruiting supervisor for Oakland, which needs to hire 62 officers.
Even going to the movies offers no escape. Recruiting ads designed to look like movie previews are showing in theaters.
"Everybody's getting into branding their police department to separate it from their competitors," said Jason Abend, executive director of the National Law Enforcement Recruiters Association.
Police agencies traditionally have advertised themselves in newspapers and on radio or let recruits come to them after hearing about openings by word of mouth.
Increased competition
Some police departments are flush with qualified candidates. Abend said that while there may be a shortage of applicants in some areas, the overall pool nationally is not shrinking. However, he said there is increased competition for that pool.
Federal law enforcement agencies have been in a hiring frenzy since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, attracting recruits to the border patrol, immigration and customs, Abend said.
"The FBI is vacuuming up people," he added.
Many veteran police officers are taking private-sector jobs or snapping up better-paying jobs at other police departments, touching off recruiting wars.
"I laugh every time I see Roy McGill, the police chief of Germantown," said Chris Krug, police chief in Miami Township near Dayton. "I say, 'You're not going to hit me are you? Because I've stolen about four people from your department.'"
Discouraged
Chancelor Chao, 34, of suburban Fairborn, considered police work after he was trained at the Navy's law enforcement and physical security school in Willow Grove, Pa., shortly after the terrorist attacks.
But he said he could find no sign of police recruiting. With little advertising and few helpful Web sites, Chao said he had trouble identifying openings and finding out how to become a candidate.
The clincher was the pay. The median annual salary of police and sheriff's patrol officers was $42,270 in 2002, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Much like the military, you're going to be put in harm's way," said Chao, who's now working on a master's degree in business administration. "And at the level they're paying, it's not worth the risk."