San Jose police get hefty recruiting boon from New York City trip

SAN JOSE — A recruiting sojourn to New York City last week quickly proved to be fruitful for the San Jose Police Department, with over 150 applicants who have cleared initial hurdles to join the rebuilding police force.

Police Chief Eddie Garcia himself joined the trip, helping make the sales pitch personally to nearly 200 prospective officers who attended a recruiting fair at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The SJPD recruiting unit, led by Lt. Heather Randol, oversaw the effort as scores of aspiring officers completed an entry-level 1.5-mile run and written exam. As of Friday, 158 of the New York applicants were still in the running, and if the typical 50-60 percent washout rate stands firm, the department could send as many as 94 prospects through the grueling backgrounding process.

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All told, the trip marked one of the most successful out-of-state recruiting trips in the department’s history, and welcome news to a department trying to dig itself out of a staffing hole over the past decade that saw the department shrink by a third from nearly 1,400 to under 1,000 amid political turmoil over pension reform. SJPD is currently authorized to field 1,109 officers.

“Having the chief there sends a message that we care about hiring the best to wear the San Jose patch,” Randol said.

It’s a marked contrast from a year ago, when the department endured criticism over a pricey recruiting trip to Hawaii that yielded just a smattering of eventual officers and was later deemed an unwise expenditure by Mayor Sam Liccardo, highlighted in a San Jose Inside report. It remains a sore spot with Randol’s unit.

But a lot has happened since that May 2016 island excursion: namely, the city and police union agreed on a contract installing pay raises and stabilizing benefits that ended years of acrimony that helped drive out officers. It has made for a more receptive audience for Randol and her team, who in the past were routinely passed by when it came down to the numbers being offered by other law-enforcement agencies.

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“The contract and salary now make us competitive,” Randol said.

Randol also notes that the New York recruiting crop was weighted in that many were criminal-justice students. But she has seen upticks in and around the Bay Area, where their recruiting focus ultimately lies.

The New York trip adds to a rebuilding effort that has shown swift promise over the past year, with robust academy classes becoming a bit more of the norm. But Randol notes that with expected retirements, many more reinforcements will be needed.

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“It’s clear that because of these large academy sizes, the department is rebuilding,” she said. “But we can’t relax. There’s so much ground to make up. We’re not sitting back just yet, but we’re very hopeful.”

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