Portland police hope for reinforcements through new recruitment videos

Portland police say they are starting to see results after spending $300,000 on new recruitment videos and a website that showcase the department as a unique team.

The department used federal funds to hire an outside company, Epic, which specializes in digital recruiting strategies for police departments across the country. The department's website boasts that these services can lead to over 600% more applications.

The result is a series of lavishly produced videos, all of which last a minute or less. Some focus on the Portland landscape, while others show officers from various departments, such as dispatch, SWAT and dive teams, conducting simulated scenarios of their work. One video, titled “Work-Life Balance,” promotes officers' hobbies, such as ice fishing, skiing and paddling. Another, titled “Final Fight,” shows officers wrestling with one another in a training exercise.

Since Epic launched the new recruiting website and ran promotional videos on Google and social media, department heads say they've seen more excitement and an increase in email inquiries about the 30 open positions.

However, since the videos were released about two weeks ago, it is “too early” to say exactly how many more people will be reached, Police Chief Mark Dubois said in an interview at police headquarters on Thursday.

The department has a total of 158 positions budgeted, but headcount is currently down about 20%, spokesman Brad Nadeau said. Of those roughly 30 unfilled positions, Portland police are prioritizing hiring patrol officers, who respond to emergency calls and police the city in patrol cars, Dubois said. But the department also has a big need for detectives, as well as the traffic and community policing divisions, he said.

Due to staff shortages, officers are forced to work overtime, especially during major events such as the Fourth of July, Sea Dogs games and Thompson's Point concerts.

“When we're at full staff, people are ambitious and work the extra hours because they make more money that way,” Dubois said. “There's so much of that going on right now that people are saying, 'I'm fed up, I want to go home.'”

According to the Portland Police Union's current collective bargaining agreement, first-year police officers start at $30.16 an hour, plus shift and deployment bonuses and bonuses for things like a college degree. At a 40-hour work week, that's at least $62,700 a year, not including overtime.

According to the contract, a detective's salary starts at $31.65 per hour, or just over $65,800 per year.

The department's traditional efforts to advertise open positions “just weren't enough,” Dubois said, so he looks forward to filling the gaps with the “successful” staffing firm that has “exceeded expectations” so far.

Law enforcement agencies in the state of Maine have struggled for years to hire enough officers. Department leaders have said they are all competing with each other for a limited pool of officers, some of whom are leaving the department as the drug and homelessness crises struggle with burnout, shortages at the police academy and a recent increase in criticism of law enforcement.

“An update is required”

The initiative is funded by the Justice Department's asset forfeiture program, which last November awarded the department $825,000 for various improvements, $350,000 of which was earmarked for recruitment efforts. A large portion of that went to Epic, and because that initiative is “volatile,” Nadeau said police could potentially spend more if the company's strategies are successful.

The agreement between Epic and the Portland Police Department includes four activities: brand development and video and photo production at a cost of $150,000, the creation of a recruitment website for $50,000, and online advertising for the campaign, which costs $90,000.

“These are not drastic measures or anything like that. I just think we have hired the people who are the best in their field to try to fill these positions,” Nadeau said.

According to the contract, Epic will conduct online marketing for one year and maintain the website for two years.

Currently, Dubois said, the ads are targeted at the New England region. Depending on how successful that is, the department could ask Epic to expand its reach.

“It's something we can use forever,” Dubois said. “The previous material we had was probably 15 years old, so it was ripe for an update or modernization anyway.”

The hiring process can take three to six months, Dubois said. If an officer wants to transfer from another department in Maine, the process is shorter.

After submitting an application, the police department requires a written aptitude test, a fitness test, an interview, a background investigation, a polygraph test, a psychological evaluation, and a medical examination. Then, qualified candidates attend the police academy for 18 weeks and complete a 12-week field training program.

The company first visited the department last November to interview employees and decide who to feature. In February, the company filmed interviews with officers and shot some winter footage, then returned in June for three full days of filming across the city.

Dubois said he was pleased with the result.

“They did a really good job of highlighting the uniqueness of the Portland Police Department because of all the different aspects we offer internally,” Dubois said.

Staff writer Daniel Kool contributed to this report.

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