Bay Area police departments ramp up recruitment

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- Police departments are ramping up recruitment efforts across the Bay Area.

Even though there are less candidates to choose from, there is more competition among departments than ever before.

Santa Clara Police Department Lt. Kurt Clarke loves his job. "Working with the community and helping folks especially children," he said.

Clarke has served the Santa Clara Police Department for nearly 22 years. "You can walk away and leave a smile on their face and their parents. I mean it makes the job even so much more rewarding and I've seen that time after time," he said.

His department is among those that are currently recruiting for open positions. "The folks you find applying at departments now are truly the ones that do want to be a police officer because that's their calling," he said.

But in recent years, many police agencies across the Bay Area have seen a decrease in applicants. Some say the area's high cost of living is partly to blame as job seekers move to other parts of the state to start their careers.

There's new push in San Jose to attract high quality candidates, more specifically women who want to serve.

One of Sunnyvale's challenges is finding candidates to fill a position that combines policing, fire-fighting, and EMT all into one.

And in Santa Clara, Clarke says it's all about finding the right fit. "The style of policing that department delivers to the community, see if they fit into that and if they do, apply for that department and give it 100 percent throughout the entire process," he said.