By Sarah Roebuck
Police1
PLANO, Texas — A recruitment billboard for the Plano Police Department advertising a salary of up to $108,150 has pulled in hundreds of applicants, the Washington State Journal reports.
“The No. 1 attraction is the pay,” said Plano Police Department’s recruiter Andrae Smith.
Smith told the WSJ that he got the idea to put up billboards after hearing about another police department that did something similar. One of the department’s five billboards is located in Norman, Okla., and the rest are in Texas.
The billboards cost about $30,000 each, but they are necessary in a tight labor market, WSJ reports. The Plano Police Department billboards have attracted 386 applicants to take the police exam. The department has hired 30 of those applicants, according to the report.
“Our goal was to pull at the shirttail of every individual who had an interest in being in law enforcement,” Smith told WSJ.
Hiring is challenging for departments near big cities. Officers typically moved from small and medium-sized departments to larger ones, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.
However, since George Floyd’s death in 2020, many officers prefer the opposite. Small and medium agencies now have more officers than before the pandemic, while large agencies have fewer, according to a survey by the nonprofit.
Smith reports that marketing Plano’s competitive wages is effective. The department had 14 openings when it launched its first billboard in 2023 and now has just eight out of more than 400 officers.
Applicants include current police officers as well as professionals from teaching, the military, fitness, journalism and real estate, WSJ reports.
The starting salary for a Plano Police recruit is $80,889 per year, the department states. Recruits can achieve $104,732 in 36 months and the pay rate for officers tops out at $108,150 per year, the department states.
How do we maintain high standards in law enforcement recruitment without compromising excellence? Dive into our latest video featuring insights from Gordon Graham on why it’s crucial to insist upon excellence in rookie officers, despite recruitment and retention challenges. Learn about the importance of adhering to high standards to ensure the effectiveness and integrity of law enforcement agencies.