City seeks marketing firm to attract police recruits

City officials want to hire a marketing firm to help attract “millennial, local, minority, female, and ‘ideal’ candidates” to fill 90 officer vacancies in the Baltimore Police Department.

“The BPD has an opportunity to recruit the next generation of ideal patrol officers for 21st century policing in Baltimore, and it aims to attract diverse, local talent through a targeted digital social media marketing campaign,” the request for proposals says.

The city’s Department of Finance and Bureau of Procurement is seeking bids from firms by Aug. 15.

According to the request, the campaign aims to increase the number of “qualified and ideal applicants monthly.” Ideal candidates include city residents, minorities, women and those with law enforcement backgrounds. It says filling the vacancies will help reduce the number of mandatory overtime hours that officers are required to work.

Greg Tucker, a spokesman for Mayor Catherine E. Pugh, said the marketing campaign is just a part of the mayor’s broader goal of attracting and retaining more officers.

“The mayor has put recruiting the next generation of officers at the forefront of her agenda,” which includes getting officers to live in the community and focus on constitution-based policing, Tucker said.

The pitch comes as the department begins to rebuild its reputation within the community, which has suffered amid high crime rates, scandals — such as the recent convictions of eight officers with the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force — and a U.S. Justice Department determination that officers regularly engaged in unconstitutional polic- ing practices.

Officials said more applicants also will help alleviate police overtime, which has been a perennial issue in Baltimore, where the department has spent millions more than what has been budgeted. The department spent $47.2 million on overtime in the fiscal year that ended June 30, even though only $16 million was budgeted.

City finance officials typically use excess tax revenue to pay for police overtime that surpasses the city’s budget.

The marketing campaign might address staffing and hiring concerns outlined in the city’s police consent decree with the Justice Department. The consent decree requires the Police Department to implement a wide range of reforms. The decree’s first-year plan requires the Police Department to complete a staffing study by September.