The Phoenix Police Department says higher pay, marketing efforts and a streamlined application process are paying off.
In September, more than 300 people applied to become a Phoenix officer. December’s academy class is expected to have 39 recruits, nearly double compared to the average over the past two years, according to Commander William Jou.
He recently told the City Council that about 16% of applicants are women, 3% percent higher than in 2023.
“This is encouraging to see that our marketing and recruiting efforts focused on women has shown positive results,” Jou said. “However, we recognize we have much more work to do to reach our goal of 30% women in our academy classes by 2030.”
Another area of focus will be Black and African American applicants. The department’s data show 11.8% of applicants identify as Black and African American, and fewer than half (5.3%) are hired.
“So, going forward, my team will be researching what is causing Black, African American applicants to withdraw from the process, or what is disqualifying them,” Jou said. “Based on our findings, we will address process improvements and improve outreach to those candidates to ensure more positive outcomes. Hopefully our research will provide improvements for all applicants.”
Between 2022 and Oct. 31, 2024, the department had 1.1% of applicants who identified as Native American and 0 hires. Phoenix has about 600 open officer positions.
According to city data, the most popular referral sources for police applicants are: family and friends, city employees, the city website, Indeed.com and billboards.
A combination of the pilot program and other efforts have increased the overall applications to the Department from an average of 250 per month to an average of 305 per month.
Advertising pilot program
In August, the city launched an advertising pilot program and provided the following results for September:
Website, social media, YouTube, Meta and paid search
- Total Impressions: 3,194,424
- Male: 47%
- Female: 30%
- Uncategorized: 23%
Indeed.com
- Total Impressions: 195,595
- Click Through Rate: 9%
- Clicks: 17,927
- Leads Generated: 1,439
Billboards
- Impressions: 16,145,767
- Total Digital Billboard Activations: 387,859
