CA Cops looking to Facebook, YouTube for recruits
Orange County Register
The Police Department, facing a possible 26 percent drop in its force this year, is looking at new strategies to recruit and retain sworn officers.
Officials are considering ideas such as giving department employees cash bonuses for referring successful candidates, creating a Facebook page and launching YouTube videos.
The department could lose eight officers to retirement this year, said Seal Beach police Sgt. Bob Mullins.
“About one-fourth of the department is eligible to bolt and could retire at any minute,” he said. “We need to prepare for that exodus.”
The department now is at maximum capacity, with 30 sworn officers – two who were recently hired, Mullins said.
“That was a daunting task because of a variety of reasons,” he said. “It took us a long time to find candidates who were qualified.”
City Council members at their meeting tonight will discuss more aggressive recruiting and retention standards that could be put in place for the department.
Incentive options could include giving employees bonuses for referring successful candidates, creating a recruitment team and including online sample tests to help candidates prepare for the written exam.
The department also wants to implement new recruiting efforts that could include establishing a My Space or Facebook page, launching videos on YouTube and placing ads in public restrooms.
The Costa Mesa and Newport Beach police departments offer incentives for their officers. Costa Mesa has an assigned vehicle program and offers a 2.5 percent uniform assignment pay. Newport Beach offers a 3 percent differential and credit for earlier service.
Seal Beach in recent years has implemented some strategies to keep officers on the force including a career development program, advanced training programs and awards recognition programs, among others.
Getting prospective candidates in uniform has proven to be difficult because of the department’s high standards, officials said.
City Manager David Carmany said that out of every 100 candidates, only one is qualified to join the force.
Officers have to pass extensive background checks that include having good financial and personal records, no reported drug use presently or in the past, and physical and psychological tests.
Candidates also must have at least a high school diploma, but Mullins said it is rare that they hire someone without some higher education.
Prospective officers have to attend a six-month academy and, if they are hired, they are put on a 12-month probationary period.
“Police officers are a precious commodity,” Carmany said.
Sherburne sheriff starts 5th grade safety class
The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department has started a new safety course for fifth-graders.
Students in Clear Lake, Becker and Big Lake will participate in the 12-week program, which started Monday, Sheriff Joel Brott said. The course is called K.I.D.S. Choice and the focus will be on choices.
The sheriff’s office developed the curriculum, which will be taught in three, four-week periods to 22 fifth-grade classes.
The first four weeks will be about drug awareness, the second will be about Internet safety and the third about bullying, Brott said. Investigators will teach the classes, which include lessons, activities, worksheets and demonstrations.
A graduation ceremony will end the course and parents will be invited to attend.
Becker and Big Lake police departments will participate in the program.
Brott said he also will attend parent/teacher school conferences in Clear Lake, Becker, Big Lake and Zimmerman to pass out information to parents about Internet safety. Becker and Big Lake police also will participate in this effort.
Brott said he plans to attend all upcoming conferences because it’s important for schools and law enforcement to have a strong partnership.
K-9 departments turn to community for help
They can chase down the bad guys and sniff out bombs. That is what makes K-9 units an integral part of the police force. However, many area departments are finding they can no longer afford their four-legged recruits.
Police departments across Michiana are finding the cost to purchase a canine is too high. Many are turning to the community for help.
Two-year old Zane is the newest member to hold a badge with the Indiana State Police.
“He’s specializes in tracking, obedience, active search, building searches, and six different narcotics,” says Ryan McNamara, K-9 handler for Zane.
He’s now one of four canines working for I-S-P, but it took a lot of work to get him here. McNamara had to raise 17,000 dollars on his own. Zane was paid for entirely by the community, mostly through private donations.
“Not only is it nice for us to utilize the dogs, but it’s also nice to take them to businesses and show them that this is what we are doing with their money,” says ISP Sgt. James Strong.
Turning to the public is a new reality for the Elkhart City’s Police department. The budget has always covered their K-9 department, until recently.
“Having to go to the public and get different things, if you wanna see your department advance, that is what’s going to have to happen,” says Chris Snyder, Elkhart City’s K-9 department.
In order for them to get two-year old Xantos, they had to do what I-S-P did. They knocked on doors and asked for help.
“It’s a big commitment, but the gain you get, the evidence you collect, the suspects you can catch, it’s well worth it in the long run,” says Snyder.
He says it’s a great investment in the officers, as well as the community.
Just to bring in a new K-9 team, it cost between 18 and 20 thousand dollars. The funds include buying the dog, the training, and the equipment.
To keep it up, it costs between 800 and 3500 dollars a year for food and vet bills.
Most departments say they’re able to keep the yearly costs in their annual budget.
However, it’s the initial cost to bringing in the dog, that they need the community’s help.
Families credit quick action with saving officers’ lives
Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to both officers!
__________
Sellersburg, Ind., police officer Darin Broady didn’t have the words yesterday to describe his emotions when told Thursday night that one of his two police officer brothers had been shot.
“When you get a call saying ‘Get to the hospital, it’s one of your brothers’ — I can’t tell you what that feels like,” he said.
Jeffersonville, Ind., Patrolman Keith Broady, 32, was shot once in the chest while responding to a complaint about drugs at a motel; Cpl. Daniel Lawhorn, 39, was shot twice in the leg.
Both are still listed in stable condition at University Hospital in Louisville, where yesterday their families made their first public comments since the shootings.
Lawhorn’s wife, Dana Lawhorn, credited quick action by other officers for saving her husband’s life.
The main artery in his leg was severed by a bullet, she said, and he would have bled to death if not for the quick actions by the first officers on the scene.
Lawhorn’s mother, Rebecca Croft, said her son “was moments away from perhaps not being here today” without that help.
The suspected gunman, Robert Dattilo, 37, killed himself Friday night following a day-long standoff at a Louisville house.
Meanwhile, one of two other men initially held in the shootings but released after questioning was arrested yesterday.
Kyle Bieber, 19, is charged with assisting a criminal, chief Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said.
Mull said the charge was based on Bieber allegedly assisting Dattilo in getting a room at the Motel 6 while knowing Dattilo faced arrest warrants in Hart and Jefferson counties in Kentucky.
Bieber and Vincent Windell Jr., 22, had been released Friday after convincing investigators they were not involved in the shootings.
Yesterday, the families of the two wounded officers said the men saw each other Sunday morning for the first time since they were shot.
“It was very emotional to see Broady walking into Daniel’s room … and to see my husband sitting up,” Dana Lawhorn said. “It was a good feeling.”
She recalled that her husband’s first words to her after his surgery were, “I love you all. How’s Broady?”
In the moments after her husband was shot, Dana Lawhorn said, Officer Tom Mitchell “grabbed a hold of a dog lead (borrowed from a K-9 officer at the scene) and wrapped it around his leg for a tourniquet.”
Assistant Police Chief Kevin Morlan applied pressure to the leg, she said, while Cpl. Greg Sumler talked to Lawhorn to keep him alert until emergency medical personnel could take over.
Lawhorn “would not be alive” if it weren’t for the actions of those men, Dana Lawhorn said.
Just after the shootings, Keith Broady’s other brother, Jeffersonville Detective Jason Broady, made his way to Keith’s home to rush his sister-in-law, Kristen Broady, to the hospital.
“That was probably the worst moment of my life,” said Kristen Broady, who is six months pregnant with the couple’s second child.
She said she felt some relief when she got to hospital and found her husband conscious, assuring her, “Babe, I’m OK.” But because he still hadn’t gone into surgery, she said, she remained fearful.
The families gathered in the hospital auditorium yesterday. Kristen Broady was flanked by Jason Broady, 39, and Darin Broady, 29.
Jason Broady said the family is grateful to fellow officers, emergency workers and the community for the support they’ve shown since the shootings, “especially the prayers,” he said.
Both wives were asked about the possibility of their husbands going back to work at the police department.
“I think it’s in his blood (but) it’s a long road ahead,” Kristen Broady said.
Dana Lawhorn said she and her husband haven’t talked about that yet but added, “I’ll support him with whatever he wants to do.”
Top Cops honored
Some top cops were recognized for their work in Dougherty County Monday. Sheriff Kevin Sproul recognized Officer Stephanie Walker as Jail employee of the year and Sgt. Pamela Thomas as the Sheriff’s Office employee of the year.
Police Chief Don Cheek recognized Lt. Tom Jackson and Corporal Bill Smith as his officers of the year. He also had two top guns. There was a tie between Investigator Clayton Bryant, who received the award last year, and Officer Stewart Williamson. Both had more than a 95% accuracy rate when firing their weapons.
Officer Stewart Williamson, Doughterty County
Williamson said, “Proud to have because you owe it to the citizens of Dougherty County. You owe it to your fellow men and women in law enforcement to be the best with your firearm they give you. You can’t risk misfiring or being a bad shot.”
The top gun winners offered to do a demonstration for the county commission this morning at the meeting, they, of course, declined.
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