Law Enforcement Recuitment: Making the Numbers
Law Enforcement Recuitment: Making the Numbers
Overview
Law Enforcement Recruitment Case Study: Over the last few decades, as many cities’ and states’ populations have increased, their number of law enforcement officers has not. Many local, state and federal agencies have seen smaller numbers of cadets entering the academy, and the net result is that their communities face longer wait times for an officer to respond.
Challenge
We’d worked with the New Mexico State Police for many years and when the Chief of that department took the helm at Albuquerque Police Department, he turned to Ad House Advertising. As the media landscape had changed, prospective cadets were no longer found at job fairs, or through newspaper, radio or TV advertising. These young men and women were online, using social media, watching videos on YouTube… and more and more often, they were questioning if a career in law enforcement was a career path they wanted to explore.
Solution
We developed highly targeted campaigns, both in-state and in other cities where law enforcement academies were being delayed or cancelled, attracting those recruits to APD. By focusing ads to people with interests in community service, physical fitness, an interest in weapons, and other criteria, the pool of qualified applicants to the APD Academy soared. Moreover, there weren’t just more cadets entering; they were more qualified, so the percentage of them graduating as officers increased as well.
Previously, an officer attending a job fair to recruit at 8 events/month, received 9 interest cards, the starting point for an application. With our campaign, for the same amount as that officer was paid, we generated 487 interest cards. Our cost per potential recruit was $23 versus $177 at a job fair.
For many law enforcement agencies, Ad House produced a great increase in the number of applicants, the quality of cadets, and the number of officers graduating from the local or state academy.
Overview
Law Enforcement Recruitment Case Study: Over the last few decades, as many cities’ and states’ populations have increased, their number of law enforcement officers has not. Many local, state and federal agencies have seen smaller numbers of cadets entering the academy, and the net result is that their communities face longer wait times for an officer to respond.
Challenge
We’d worked with the New Mexico State Police for many years and when the Chief of that department took the helm at Albuquerque Police Department, he turned to Ad House Advertising. As the media landscape had changed, prospective cadets were no longer found at job fairs, or through newspaper, radio or TV advertising. These young men and women were online, using social media, watching videos on YouTube… and more and more often, they were questioning if a career in law enforcement was a career path they wanted to explore.
Solution
We developed highly targeted campaigns, both in-state and in other cities where law enforcement academies were being delayed or cancelled, attracting those recruits to APD. By focusing ads to people with interests in community service, physical fitness, an interest in weapons, and other criteria, the pool of qualified applicants to the APD Academy soared. Moreover, there weren’t just more cadets entering; they were more qualified, so the percentage of them graduating as officers increased as well.
Previously, an officer attending a job fair to recruit at 8 events/month, received 9 interest cards, the starting point for an application. With our campaign, for the same amount as that officer was paid, we generated 487 interest cards. Our cost per potential recruit was $23 versus $177 at a job fair.
For many law enforcement agencies, Ad House produced a great increase in the number of applicants, the quality of cadets, and the number of officers graduating from the local or state academy.
Creatives
Creatives
Results
Summary
Several extensions on our law enforcement campaigns were also helpful in expanding the pool of applicants. We directed ads to students studying human services and social services, such as social work, psychology, teaching, to position law enforcement as a similar career for college students interested in helping others. Those ads saw remarkable click through rates and enough appicants to make the campaigns extend beyond the test period. We focused on young people about to graduate high school with interests compatible with law enforcement, recruiting them as public service aids.
The head of the Academy wrote this, describing his analysis of our work: “To say I was skeptical of Ad House Advertising’s ability to generate more prospective cadets for the APD Academy, quality prospects who could get through the training, is an understatement. We were down to two academies per year, each graduating about 15 officers, or about 30 per year. … Within the second month, I was changing my tune. After four years with Ad House, our now three cadet classes had each increased to about 45 graduates, and our female graduates were up 23%.”
Relevant Ad Messages = Big Results
Recruiting Officers: Time To Improve Your Numbers
Relevant Ad Messages = Big Results