Fontana Police Department Gets $60K for Recruitment...(Daily Bulletin June 28, 2006)

Fontana Police Department gets $60K for recruitment Leonor Vivanco, Staff Writer

FONTANA - As the Police Department moves forward with plans to hire nine new officers, it is getting $60,000 to boost recruitment efforts and improve diversity on the force. The money included in the recently approved 2006-07 fiscal budget will be used to make a video and fliers for distribution throughout the community, city officials said. "It's to reach out to young men and women in the community to entice them to join the police department," Mayor Mark Nuaimi said Tuesday. "In doing so, you'll get a police force reflective of the community." In addition, city and police officials meet with faith-based organizations and talk to students at Chaffey College to recruit potential officers. "One of the tricks of recruitment is making sure everyone in the community knows you're interested in them," said John Firman, research director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police based in Alexandria, Va. Police departments should as best they can reflect the diversity of their communities, Firman said. "It's very comforting to people of any ethnic group to see representation in the department," he said. Fontana has 166 sworn police officers on the streets with 28 more positions authorized for a total of 194 in the 2006-07 budget, Police Chief Larry Clark said. Twenty positions, including the newly approved ones, are open and eight recruits are in the training academy. Of the 166 officers, 10.2 percent are women, 2.4 percent are Asian, 1.8 percent are African American and 18.7 percent are Hispanic, Clark said. The department hopes to hire 19 minority officers -- including sworn and non-sworn police personnel -- by the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year, up from 13 in 2005-06, according to the most recent budget document. The prior year the department hired eight minorities. Videos, brochures and public speaking engagements are all part of a solid recruitment process, Firman said. The department is taking "smart steps" toward marketing itself, he said. "My compliments to that department because there's no question recruitment is competitive," Firman said. For every 100 applicants, the Fontana Police Department hires one officer after a rigorous screening process, Clark said. It then takes about 18 months until that officer hits the streets. The city has added several new police positions in the past couple of years to accommodate the city's explosive growth and to gear up for the proposed annexation of unincorporated islands. "All the police departments are recruiting because of the growth," Nuaimi said. "So it is a fairly competitive process we have to go through and it takes some money to do it effectively." The video and fliers are expected to be ready by September or October, Clark said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I am wondering how successful the recruitment program has been I know that they said it was not going to be fully implemented until this month, but it is always fun to ask how the new project is coming along when it has not been fully implemented. It sounds like it would be a great thing for the Rialto Police department to look at, but I have always said that they need to look at one thing and I have been a broken record about it. The 3% @50 Retirement package is and will be the thing that will make Rialto Police department more of a Police Department that is better suited for the long term of their Employees. Such as one thing, if they were to give them the 3% @ 50 they would be better then SB PD and already much better then the SBSD. The only one that they would be equal to that they are next to is Fontana, and Colton, and Riverside. See Riverside Police Agency is a Police department that Police Officers join to Retire from. They go there to stay, and not leave. there are people that have been at Riverside PD for a good long time. So, Riverside Sheriff's department is the agency that people leave to go to other agencies, but not to many people leave Riverside, unless they are moving to another area, and they want to see what it is like in some there area. so that is the only reason that they would go. As for Colton Police agency is a very nice Agency it is a small agency that you know your people that you work with and that is a good thing. it is a great thing knowing your partners. I was from an area like that. Small town, smaller then Colton, and we knew our partners well. let me tell you if they got the jump on us we would know it before the suspect knew we knew. Take care, and don't worry be happy. have a great day..Stay safe. BSRanch