The Rochester Police Department is challenging its residents to become "community recruiters," as the department looks for young men and women to serve as police officers.
Police Chief Mike Ciminelli and Deputy Chief Wayne Harris outlined the idea this morning at the Public Safety Building downtown.
Ciminelli says one thing that came through loud and clear during the RPD's 90-Day Community Engagement project is that people want to have a role in shaping the city's police department.
So they are preparing to start a recruitment process for the upcoming civil service exam in the fall.
"What we're doing is challenging members of the community to step forward and assume the role of a community recruiter," he said.
The idea is to have people from all aspects of the community help identify qualified candidates interested in a career in law enforcement.
"These community recruiters will come to a training session with city HR and the Rochester Police Department officers that are involved in the recruitment process, where we'll go over the requirements, the hiring process, give them each a packet of material of contact information and then we're going to send them out and have them look for people to bring back to us as potential police candidates," Ciminelli said.
Deputy Chief Wayne Harris says the department has worked in the past with area churches in recruitment efforts, but now they are trying to formalize the process.
"Open it up not just to clergy but also to business, to residents, to anyone in the community that knows of good, qualified candidates. Young men and women who have grown up in this Rochester area that are dedicated, and want to work towards the health of the Rochester community," he said.
Chief Ciminelli says the department can help potential candidates with preparing for the civil service exam, and the physical agility test, which is a challenge for many prospective officers.
"We typically lose about half our candidates at the physical agility test, so this is something now that if someone's interested, we want to get them working and thinking about it, and working towards that goal," he said.
Ciminelli says this will give people in the city of Rochester who want a role in shaping the police department a direct way to participate with them.
People interested in becoming a community recruiter should contact the city here.
The training session for recruiters will be held June 3rd.
Here's Deputy Chief Harris talking about how the department is seeking Community Recruiters from all aspects of the community: