HENDERSON (FOX5) — The Henderson Police Department says a new recruiting strategy is helping fill vacancies within the department.
Before Henderson PD recruits can get behind the wheel of a police unit, they have to get through the academy. On day one of physical training, recruits are learning how demanding that process can be.
“Are you going to quit? Sir, no sir! Are you going to quit? Sir, no, sir,” instructors shouted during training.
Week one to week two
Recruit Anthony Rosas described week one at the Henderson PD Academy as welcoming, inspiring, and overall kind.
“It’s been great. It’s our first week. A lot of presentations and getting a lot of facts,” Rosas said.
“How nice everybody is, I know it’s the first week, and it’s kind of like orientation and everything like that,” he said.
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But by week two, the tone changed.
Monday marked the recruits’ first inspection and first day of physical training.
“They’re going to induct them into the Henderson Police Department Academy, and what that’s going to look like is a little bit of some chaos for our recruits,” said Capt. Kenneth Youngblood.
Youngblood said they induce stress intentionally to prepare recruits to tune out the noise and think critically under pressure.
“We want them to feel that intensity, want them to feel that stress because this is the environment where we need them to experience that at,” Youngblood said.
“We will never lower our standards to meet you where you’re at. You will have to rise,” said Sgt. Forest Shields recruits inside the classroom.
Selective process
Of 2,056 applicants, only 56 made it to the first inspection.
For some recruits like Tiffany Harris, the challenge was expected.
“I’m prepared to run, I’m prepared to do the push-ups, I’m prepared to train,” Harris said.
“You have the opportunity every day to prove you have what it takes,” an instructor said.
For Rosas, a former UNLV football player, giving up is not an option as the goal goes back to his childhood.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be a police officer. Seeing the police officers that interacted with me, where I’m from, they used to give me stickers,” Rosas said.
Local recruiting focus
Department leaders said the Henderson Police Department is closer than it’s ever been to a zero percent vacancy rate at a time when many departments nationwide are facing staffing shortages.
“We really wanted to focus on the local talent that we know is here,” a department leader said.
Instead of recruiting heavily out of state, Henderson PD shifted its focus to local applicants, targeting people who want to serve their own community, like recruits Rosas and Harris.
“And the only thing we ask from them is to give it 100%,” a department leader said.
While the badge may be the end goal, instructors said the hard work, long hours, and discipline start at the academy.
The Henderson Police Department said the academy started with 56 recruits. After their first inspection, that number is down to 52. Two years ago, the department’s vacancy rate was at 14%.
Today, it stands closer to zero.
The Henderson Police Department said recruit applications will re-open in a few months.
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