The access and ease of technology has produced some excellent law enforcement videos in recent years. I enjoy watching them and I believe that many do a fantastic job of not only humanizing those behind the badge but highlighting departments in a way that is rarely done by the mainstream media.
But has there been an over reliance on what video can do for the profession?
I was recently teaching at an agency and the supervisor over recruiting told me that they had spent $150,000 on agency marketing that included a website and video but it did nothing for recruiting.
Marketing Is Not Recruiting
The recruiting crisis in law enforcement has pushed agencies to think about recruiting differently. Rather than relying on a line of interested candidates, many agencies hired traditional marketing companies to help them with recruiting and they were happy to oblige.
The problem, is that marketing is not recruiting and I have heard from many agencies that don’t understand why their efforts have not produced the desired results.
Marketing aims to brand an agency in a positive fashion while recruiting is about finding candidates. While marketing can assist in retaining interest in an agency, that initial spark must come from a specific recruiting strategy.
The Scam
I don’t blame marketing agencies for offering their services to law enforcement. Websites and videos are important and there is no shortage of companies that can produce those at a high level but without a “recruiting first” philosophy, recruiting will not improve.
Nothing proves this point than our infatuation with police videos. Washington D.C.Metro was selected as having the best video of last year and I agree, it was a great video.
Story telling is the power of good marketing and D.C. Metro told a great story but I wonder what impact this had on their recruiting?
Considering they are at the lowest staffing in their history, I’m thinking not too well.
I asked the co-owner of SAFEGUARD Recruiting, Jake Peters, about the use of video for recruiting. Peters said that video does have a place in recruiting but not what most think. Peters said that he has deployed over 300 digital recruiting campaigns in the last year and video routinely performs worse than all other methods.
Peters said that the reason is simple. The goal of his company is to showcase a department’s job opening to as many people online as possible and to do that successfully, it takes constant monitoring and adjustments to match the social media algorithm.
Video, according to Peters, just does not do well in this environment.
Despite the failure of video to help recruiting, Peters likes video for other aspects of the recruiting campaign.
“Video can really help convince an applicant to stay an applicant despite the long hiring process,” Peters said.
Actual Recruiting
Recruiting has been difficult for law enforcement to grasp because, until recently, we didn’t have to recruit. I know we said that we were recruiting but you don’t actually recruit when you have more candidates than job openings. What the profession has actually done was use marketing to attract the best candidates possible out of the abundance that existed.
But what do you do, when the hiring pool dries up?
You must recruit.
Until the profession realizes what recruiting is, the struggles will continue. Websites are great and videos are entertaining, but recruiting involves much more.
I filmed a series of training videos on the topic of recruiting for SAFEGUARD Recruiting because they understand how to recruit law enforcement. I would encourage to check them out and reach out to SAFEGUARD if you have any questions.
They are solving the recruiting dilemma for departments each week and as former law enforcement officers, they are committed to providing the solution to a frustrating and dangerous phenomenon in the profession.
Dr. Travis Yates retired as a commander with a large municipal police department after 30 years of service. He is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies.” His risk management and leadership seminars have been taught to thousands of professionals across the world. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy with a Doctorate Degree in Strategic Leadership and the CEO of the Courageous Police Leadership Alliance.
