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Home My WebLink About19E - PD RECRUITING UPDATEREQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: OCTOBER 20, 2015 TITLE: POLICE OFFICER RECRUITING AND HIRING UPDATE {STRATEGIC PLAN NO. 1,11) z d CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDED ACTION CLERK OF COUNCIL USE ONLY: APPROVED ❑ As Recommended ❑ As Amended ❑ Ordinance on 1" Reading Cl Ordinance on 2n' Reading ❑ Implementing Resolution ❑ Set Public Hearing For Receive and file Police Officer Recruiting and Hiring Update. DISCUSSION CONTINUED TO FILE NUMBER During the period of 2010 through 2014, the Santa Ana Police Department had reduced hiring to a very low level. Sworn officers and civilian staff were hired at a rate less than the attrition rate. The Department and the City were reducing staff in order to regain control of the budget. The Backgrounds staff at the Police Department was reduced to one person responsible for all backgrounds in the Department. Because of the reduced hiring, having only one background investigator was sufficient. Beginning in 2014, the Police Department began to recruit and hire for the numerous vacancies throughout the Department. The Background Unit was expanded from one to five full -time background investigators. Additional staff was hired at City Hall to assist the Police Department with the increased hiring. In addition, as described below, the Police Department has improved several aspects of the hiring process including marketing /advertising (web presence), our recruitment efforts, the physical agility test, and technology and software. As a result, the Police Department has seen a marked increase in the number officers hired. The number of Police Officers hired has increased from 17 in 2014 to 33 to date in 2015 and the Police Department anticipates additional hiring by the end of the calendar year. The Department continues to work towards hiring more officers than it separates. In 2014, 17 officers were hired, but 24 officers separated from the Department. In 2015, 33 officers have been hired, but 21 left the Department. As the number of officers we hire continues to increase and as separations decrease, the Department will continue to see positive growth in sworn staffing. 19E -1 Police Officer Recruiting and Hiring Update October 20, 2015 Page 2 Time from Application to In- Service It takes a significant amount of time to turn an applicant into an in- service police officer. A Lateral Police Officer from another agency will take approximately 10 -12 months from the time of application until he/she is in- service as a police officer. The 10 -12 month estimate consists of 5 -6 months to conduct the required background, polygraph, psychological and medical tests; and 5 -6 months for training with a Field Training Officer. A Recruit Police Officer requires approximately 18 months from the time of application until he /she is in- service. The estimated time includes 5 -6 months to conduct the hiring process similar to the lateral officer, followed by 7 months of pre- academy and academy training. At the conclusion of the police academy, the new officer undergoes 6 months of training with a Field Training Officer before they are certified to be in- service as a police officer. Website: JoinSantaAnaPD.org The centerpiece of our recruiting efforts is the Police Department's new recruiting website. The website is designed to provide prospective employees with information about the Santa Ana Police Department and about the hiring process. The website has a message from Chief Rojas discussing the City of Santa Ana, the Police Department, and the type of employee who would thrive at the Santa Ana Police Department. There is a webpage on the recruiting website dedicated to women in law enforcement. On this page are profiles of several female Santa Ana police officers and a video describing one of those officer's experiences working for the Santa Ana Police Department. The Women in Law Enforcement webpage has a request for contact by a female mentor /Police Officer. In the 6 weeks the website has been operational, we have received 20 requests for contact by a SAPID female mentor. Recruiting The Santa Ana Police Department Recruiting Team has attended numerous recruiting events including: 2/11/15: Marine Corp Recruiting Depot (MCRD) 3/05115: SAC Recruitment 3110/15: California State Fullerton 3117/15: Segerstrom HS Career and College Fair 3/22/15: Rick Centanni Memorial 3/25/15: Career & Technical Education Program Fair 4/03/15: Cal State Fullerton Recruitment event 4/16/15: Career Fair at Golden West College 4/18/15: Battle of the Badges Anaheim PD 4/22115: Cal State Fullerton Recruiting event 6/20/15: Code 3 Career Expo /American Heroes Air Show 8/22/15: Fit Expo /Anaheim 19E -2 Police Officer Recruiting and Hiring Update October 20, 2015 Page 3 9/19/15: Santa Ana College's 100th Birthday Celebration Expedited Hiring Process Most other police agencies in Orange County are attempting to hire police officers, which means we are in a highly competitive environment to hire the best available candidates for the Santa Ana Police Department. With the assistance of City Personnel, a significant number of changes have been made to the hiring process to ensure we are hiring the best people as quickly as possible. The physical agility test was recently changed without lowering our hiring standards. The new test allows for almost immediate results regarding who passed or failed. This change resulted in a time savings of at least 2 weeks per candidate. The Commanders Oral Interview process was changed so that a panel is convened as soon as there are candidates to interview rather than waiting until there are 8 -10 candidates before convening a panel. This change can reduce the hiring process by up to 1 to 3 weeks. Recent changes to the process, which are too early to assess, are the hiring of part-time background investigators to assist the full -time background investigators. Also, the eSOPH background software package was purchased and setup. The new software will expedite each background investigation by 1 -3 weeks because most of the processes are now handled electronically instead of by U.S. Mail. Progress The Police Department is already starting to see progress in the number of candidates moving through the hiring process. In May 2015, 18 candidates were invited to the Background Orientation which comes after the Written, Physical Agility and Oral Interview steps. In June, July and August 2015, the number of candidates invited to Background Orientation was 12, 10 and 9 respectively. But in September 2015, 37 candidates have been invited to Background Orientation; a 95% increase from our best previous month in 2015. Conclusion The environment for hiring new police officers is highly competitive. The best new officer applicants have their choice of police agencies. We continue to review our hiring process to find ways to reduce the time it takes to hire so we don't lose out on highly qualified candidates. The recruiting website is at the center of our marketing strategy. The Santa Ana Police Department is a great agency to work for and is highly respected in the law enforcement community. The recruiting website helps us to get our message out to potential candidates. Once a candidate has been recruited, we are continually in contact with the candidate to expedite the hiring process and to prepare them for the police academy. The new software and the new 19E -3 Police Officer Recruiting and Hiring Update October 20, 2015 Page 4 part-time background investigator have recently been added to the process so It is too soon to draw any conclusion about how effective they will be. STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT This item supports the City's efforts to achieve Strategic Plan Goal #1 Community Safety, Objective #1 (Modernize the Community Policing philosophy to improve customer service, crime prevention and traffic/pedestrian/bicycle safety), Strategy I (Enhance public safety efforts by improving our employee retention efforts and actively seeking a diverse and talented pool of public safety candidates who possess the values and skills consistent with organizational goals). FISCAL IMPACT There isW fiscal impact associated with this item. 6914�� Carlos Rojas Chief of Police Santa Ana Police Department 19E -4