State College Recruiting Cops from Across State
By: Adam Paluka
Updated: April 14, 2010
STATE COLLEGE, CENTRE COUNTY - The State College Police Department is not getting the police officer applicant numbers it used to in previous years, for instance in the 1980's 400 applicants took the Police Officer Test to become local cops, but by 2008 that number had dropped to just 80 applicants.
To counteract the drop in test takers, State College Borough bought television ads in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh hoping to drum up interest.
With half a dozen officers approaching retirement that state college police department had to get creative. This recruitment commercial and video cost the SCPD $13,000, but the local chief thinks the pay off could be ten fold.
“This is an attempt to increase the number of police applicants. We have not only a low number of applicants, but we’re also trying to get a diverse group of applicants to apply to be a police officer,” SCPD Chief Tom King said.
King said diversity is not always easy to find in State College, that is why these ads are airing in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
“We'd like to have more female applicants. We'd like to have applicants of color. We'd like to have not just racial but ethnic backgrounds, different ethnic backgrounds,” King said.
Cheif King said this is the only TV ad for police officer recruitment he knows of that is airing across the state.
For more information about the Police Officer Test administered by the State College Police Department, click here: http://www.statecollegepa.us/index.aspx?NID=1343&ART=5514&admin=1.
To counteract the drop in test takers, State College Borough bought television ads in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh hoping to drum up interest.
With half a dozen officers approaching retirement that state college police department had to get creative. This recruitment commercial and video cost the SCPD $13,000, but the local chief thinks the pay off could be ten fold.
“This is an attempt to increase the number of police applicants. We have not only a low number of applicants, but we’re also trying to get a diverse group of applicants to apply to be a police officer,” SCPD Chief Tom King said.
King said diversity is not always easy to find in State College, that is why these ads are airing in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
“We'd like to have more female applicants. We'd like to have applicants of color. We'd like to have not just racial but ethnic backgrounds, different ethnic backgrounds,” King said.
Cheif King said this is the only TV ad for police officer recruitment he knows of that is airing across the state.
For more information about the Police Officer Test administered by the State College Police Department, click here: http://www.statecollegepa.us/index.aspx?NID=1343&ART=5514&admin=1.
