The NYPD has quietly renewed a multi-million-dollar contract with a Hollywood ad agency in an effort to attract new cops — as the department struggles to increase recruitment levels while facing a mass exodus of officers.
The Los Angeles-based firm, Walton Isaacson LLC, was awarded a $5 million two-year deal in November to continue advising on police recruitment and media strategies, according to city contracts.
It came after the agency, which also has offices in the Big Apple, reaped a $54 million five-year contract with the city in 2018 to help stir up NYPD recruitment.
But last year, the class of new recruits joining the force was still 5% smaller than it was in 2016 — despite the department shelling out $3.7 million in advertising in 2022.
“The NYPD could spend a billion dollars a year on recruiting ads. It would make no difference as long as the pay and benefits remain inferior to every other policing job in this area,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch.
“The city should stop wasting its money on recruiting ads and instead invest in a more effective recruiting tool: competitive compensation.”
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has publicly acknowledged that recruitment has posed a “significant issue,” and said the NYPD is getting “creative” with how to entice prospective applicants, including by putting calls out at military bases and colleges.
“We recognize that with the attrition that we’ve seen that we needed to get a little bit more imaginative when it comes to recruitment,” Sewell said at a budget hearing before the City Council Committee on Public Safety this month.
“We put out a number of different videos. We have people who are responding to a number of locations basically really getting the word out, since the pandemic that we’re open for…
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