Lt. Kim Beaty heads up the recruiting push, the police department's first since 2007. She told AOL News she looked outside the box and turned to community organizations when mapping her strategy. Since late last year, she and her team of about 20 recruiters have shared their message at Buffalo gathering spots, including a gym, colleges, basketball games, a movie theater and churches. "With the churches being the pillars of some of our neighborhoods, I thought that if we got into the churches, even if our intended target wasn't there ... maybe their family members would be there and hear the message and get the information to them that there is a job worth doing," she said.
Beaty and other officers spoke to the congregation of Buffalo's True Bethel Baptist Church on Sunday, and the True Bethel congregation listened. "We absolutely pulled out some qualified applicants," she said. True Bethel Pastor Darius Pridgen, who also serves on the Buffalo Common Council, hopes the vast recruitment drive will mean a police force that reflects the community's diversity. Putting the church's money behind the effort, True Bethel, as well as at least three other Buffalo churches, will pay the $25 examination fee for up for 30 congregants.
"We are not just paying the fees of minorities participants," Pridgen told WIVB. "We're paying the fees of any member, black, white, Asian, that belong to our church because we want the diversity of the police force to reflect the diversity of Buffalo." Beaty said the churches' payment of the $25 fee is often less about financial aid and more about psychological motivation; lighting the proverbial fire that might spur a future police officer to action.
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