What has been the response to the Metropolitan Police Departments aggressive hiring strategy?
Well I can answer that by saying who we are not competing against. For that age group, we are not competing against the feds. We are competing against the feds with those who have gotten a little time on and have gotten a little bit older, they might be interested in going over. But for the younger recruits, our main competition is the other area police departments. Last year, it was local agencies like Prince Georges County (MD), Montgomery County (MD), Alexandria Police (VA), and Arlington Police (VA). But now with all these economic issues, with some agencies furloughing, and those holding off on hiring, I think DC is pretty well positioned. It’s kind of like Southwest Airlines, a company taking advantage of the downturn to get new customers. So like corporations who are taking advantage of the downturn, that’s kind of the way MPD is looking at it.
