Allan Appel Photo
Recruit John Pysz leaflets Sherman Avenue two weeks ago.
An all-out community drive to recruit more police officers led to 1,495 applications — double the number from the last drive two years ago.
Police Chief Dean Esserman announced the number Monday afternoon. The recruitment drive closed Friday evening.
Those 1,495 would-be cops are competing for an expected 80 to 100 openings through 2014.
Esserman credited the help of local clergy, current recruits, and the press in making the drive a success. “The New Haven police,” he said, “would hot have accomplished this alone.” Police academy director Sgt. Anthony Campbell oversaw the recruitment drive along with Assistant Chief Thaddeus Reddish and Sgt. David Taft.
Click here to read a story about how recruits in the current police academy class canvassed New Haven neighborhoods to find applicants.
The drive would have netted 1,494, not 1,495, applications if not for a visit to Esserman’s home Friday night by a young man in Fair Haven. The man had met Esserman in the past through an EMT class he took with the chief’s daughter. The man contacted Esserman before the application deadline saying he wanted to become a cop. But he didn’t have a computer. Esserman invited him over, turned on the computer, got Sgt. Campbell on a cell phone, and helped walk the applicant through the process.
Wow! What's the rate of applicants to qualified officers? Any stats?
Is only 10% of these applicants make it, that's still 150 new police officers. That's 50 more than we have positions for!