L.A. Police Establish Beachhead in Drive to Recruit Officers

You have a right to remain suntanning. If you give up the right to remain suntanning, anything you say can and will be used to recruit you for the Los Angeles Police Department.

That’s the approach, if not the exact words, used by a dozen officers recruiting police candidates at Will Rogers State Beach on Friday. The police hope to hire 750 officers by the end of the year at a starting pay of between $31,000 and $34,000.

The department’s year-round recruiting effort takes officers to college campuses, state fairs and shopping malls, but Friday marked the first time the police have hit the beach in search of recruits. The reaction from sunbathers was decidedly mixed.

‘Pretty Desperate’

“They must be pretty desperate to be looking on the beach,” said Debbie Gibson, a student from the San Fernando Valley. “It’s decent money, but then you’re putting your life on the line.”

“It was interesting to hear what they had to say, but I hate hearing things like that when you’re trying to lay out on the beach,” said Amy Border, a student from UC Santa Barbara, once the officers were out of earshot. “We just took the brochure because they were talking and we had to get rid of them.”

Jenine Valdivia, an aerobics instructor from Burbank, seemed more enthusiastic. She said joining the force is “something I had thought about, but I never really checked into it.” Robert Rocher from Santa Monica, who was working on the beach as a temporary lifeguard, said he’s always willing to consider new jobs, especially Civil Service positions. “I think it’s a good job,” he said. “I’m going to give it thought.”

Dressed for the Occasion

Wearing blue pleated shorts, white T-shirts, sneakers and gun belts, the officers combed the beach, handing out recruiting brochures and, to children, baseball cards. The cards seemed at least as popular as the brochures, although they all pictured the same player.

“If we gave them different ones, they’d be fighting over them,” said Officer Jim Gascon as he handed out cards to children from the Culver Palms YMCA.

Before they may join the force, recruits must pass written, oral and psychological tests, and submit to a check into their backgrounds. Successful candidates must then attend the Police Academy for six months.

Lt. Helen Kidder, commanding officer of the department’s Employee Opportunity and Development Division, said any police recruiting drive must reach a lot of people because “You can never tell by looking” who will make the grade. Last year, for example, the department hired 750 officers from a pool of 11,000 applicants.

Officers on the beach Friday said they were particularly interested in bringing

in more women and minority group members.

Under a consent decree filed in federal court to end a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the department has pledged to increase the number of women and minorities in its ranks. Current hiring goals call for a force that is 22.5% black, 30% Latino and 25% female, Kidder said. As of June 19, the force was about 12% black, 17.7% Latino and 9.9% female. Kidder said there is no specific deadline for the hiring goals to be met.

Hiring goals aside, the police recruiters were talking to just about any beach-goers who would listen.

“It’s a funny place to recruit, but you get the right ages,” said Tammy Schellenberg of Palmdale. “If I didn’t have to shoot a gun, I’d be a policeman. Could I get on the beach force?”