Advertising pays off: Philly police recruitment shows big increase

A new advertising campaign calling for Philadelphia police recruits seems to be paying off. The ads aim to fill hundreds of vacancies in the department.

City Director of Human Resources Michael Zaccagni said thanks to some new money from city council, recruitment is up by 42% when compared to the previous two recruitment periods.

“What we saw when we asked people where did you hear this from, the police website still comes up number one, but we saw an increase in SEPTA, billboard and Facebook,” Zaccagni said.

He says the recruitment process is maintaining its diversity goals along with the new advertising.

The recruitment effort is just the first part of a multi-phase effort to turn the applicants into police officers. After being evaluated, recruits have to pass a criminal history check, physical fitness and reading tests, which have been a problem.

The physical fitness portion of the review can be quickly taught, but Zaccagni said someone’s criminal history can’t be erased even if it was a decade ago, in most cases. The reading test is also something the city is working with state officials on because only one test can be used and the city is trying to add additional testing to the mix.

“We have incredible officers but there are not enough of them given we are the 4th largest police department in the country,” said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw in a statement. “As the department continues its commitments to crime prevention and reduction, community engagement and inclusion, and organizational excellence, we hope to attract high-quality candidates who will join us and help meet our goals.”

Council President Darrell Clarke also issued a statement which said, Council understood the challenges to fill police jobs, so they added money to the recruitment budget in order to help the police department find qualified people who can fill the positions.

The city is also talking to people who signed up to find out exactly how they found out about the openings. Officials are now trying to determine how to spend additional funding for the next recruitment drive.