Path To A Safer Community.

By Chris Bunyan

Our police department is so understaffed that at the end of each officer's shift, he or she, must sign -up for mandatory overtime. To help plug the hole of attrition, we must then, begin to take better care of those who are taking care of us. We must not only make our incentives equal to other agencies but offer more so that we can attract other lateral officers from other agencies. The magazine that is most favored by law enforcement departments, for hiring purposes, is PORAC. In the back of PORAC are advertisements from cities and counties all around California that are hiring officers. Yet, despite the fact that we have officers leaving for other agencies, the police department's budget to advertise in PORAC is almost zero. We must to correct this. That is why we must put together a strategic marketing plan to attract both entry level and lateral officers. A great example of a marketing model used for hiring is that utilized by the LAPD. I encourage you to visit their website. The LAPD has a separate website devoted strictly to hiring, furthermore, they even have a website devoted just for the hiring of their reserve officers. The Costa Mesa Police Department would benefit from an improved website, billboards advertising that they are hiring, and booths at job fairs.

It is my goal to have a safe community but, in order, to do this then we will have to rebuild our police department and make it the model for all other agencies around California to pattern their infrastructure after. Costa Mesa should be a community where our children can play in safety, and a community where our seniors are protected at all times.