Getting out word on benefits

As interest in law enforcement careers continues to decrease, the

Glendale Police Department is hitting the city’s streets and pushing

the agency’s benefits and salary in an effort to draw more applicants

and increase diversity. The Police Department set up a booth at the

Sidewalk Cafe, on Glenoaks Boulevard, Sunday to reach out to the

community. They hope to be there again on October 30.

“When we go to the Sidewalk Cafe on a Sunday afternoon, that’s

where we’re trying to plant the seed, in this instance maybe in young

Armenian people in the community,” said Glendale Lt. Bruce Fox, who

oversees the recruitment efforts for the department.

The Police Department is trying to grow demographically to be more

reflective of the community. They are targeting women, Asians,

Armenians and any other group traditionally not represented in the

department, but represented in the community, said Russ Quan, a

recruiter with Glendale Police.

“We’re trying to let people know the benefits of working with the

department,” Quan said. “With departments like the LAPD looking to

expand within the next year as well as the Sheriff’s Department,

that’s going to affect the applicant pool.”

There are two types of applicants police are looking to recruit,

Fox said: “There’s the pools of people that know they want to be a

police officer. And then there’s the pool who maybe never thought

about it, but could potentially have a lot to offer us.”

Fox, like Quan, is trying to drum up more interest in careers in

law enforcement in Glendale by boasting the department’s competitive

wages and its small-town feel, yet large-town operation.

“The benefit of the Glendale Police Department is that we are the

third-largest city in Los Angeles County, which means we have a

sizable Police Department,” Quan said. “This allows us to provide an

opportunity to officers that are interested in getting into SWAT and

narcotics.”

But officers will not be lost in the department, and will not be

just another face, he said.

And Glendale has one of the highest paying departments, starting

officers at a little more than $5,000 a month -- almost $1,000 more

than the Los Angeles Police Department’s starting salary of $4,200

per month, Quan said.

“We have a really good reputation,” Fox said.

Programs like Drug Abuse Resistance Education and school resource

officers aim to familiarize children with police, and police are

visiting job fairs and setting up booths in the city to break down

stereotypes of law enforcement.

“For a lot of people, the only exposure they have to what an

officer does on a daily basis is from what they’ve seen on TV,” Quan

said. “It’s hard to try to break that mind-set.”

Hollywood cop characters, like those in movies such as “SWAT” or

“Training Day” lead dangerous, action-packed careers, very different

from the workloads Glendale officers face -- 80% of which is writing

reports, Quan said.

This could be just one of the reasons interest has decreased over

the last 20 years, coupled with recent scrutiny of law enforcement

corruption in general, Fox said.

“And our recruiting has changed,” he said. “We used to go out and

recruit action-oriented individuals. Now, we’re looking for people

who are more service-oriented.”

Anyone interested in a career with the Glendale Police Department

can call the City Human Resources Department at (818) 548-2110, or call Police at (818) 548-3117, or visit their website at

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