The San Diego Police Department today said its recruiters will be traveling to Winona, Minn. next week in search of applicants for the police department.
Minnesota?
I gave Capt. Bob Kanaski, who heads up recruitment at the department, a quick call.
He told me the department has been looking at universities all over the country, searching for potential pools of graduates from law enforcement schools. In some parts of the country, he said, there are schools that churn out law enforcement graduates who might not be able to find positions in the local area. Winona, Minn., is one such place.
Kanaski said his recruitment team will be pointing out some of the obvious benefits of living in San Diego when they travel north next week.
“We are going to take advantage of the fact that it is cold and dreary for four months of the year in Minnesota, and we’ll try and sell them on San Diego’s weather,” he said.
The Minnesota trip isn’t the first time the department has looked out of state for recruits. Department recruiters just got back from a trip to job fairs in two Arizona cities, where Kanaski said the response to the department’s outreach has been very positive.
The SDPD’s latest academy has hired 56 recruits, he said. That’s the highest in the last 15 or 16 years, Kanaski estimated. The department has also had record numbers of applicants showing up for their written test, which is the first step to becoming a SDPD officer, Kanaski said.