The city budgets are always a topic of discussion around the Tri-State. Police and Fire departments seemingly are always being asked to do more with less, but they are consistently recruiting good candidates to fill positions as they become available through attrition or expanded budgets that allows more to be hired. Police departments generally recruit a couple of times a year and the recruiting process can be tricky, especially if you are using a recruiting video like Decatur, Georgia and Newport Beach, California, where I was born and raised.

The below videos are polar opposites of each other with Decatur showing a quiet laid back approach and using an empathetic attitude in their video showing an officer riding a bike and the benefits of living in Decatur.

Newport Beach takes an approach that is the exact opposite, taking a "Do you have what it takes?' approach in it's video with guns blazing, recruits in the academy and a lot of bad guys being taken down. This is a very big surprise for me.

I was raised in Newport Beach and even grew up in that very police department going from Police Explorer to Cadet in my time there. When I was there, community relations were first and foremost and recruiting involved more the benefits of living and protecting a beautiful, coastal community. The department I see in the below video is not at all what I remember, but each department takes its own approach when recruiting.

I am certainly not saying Newport Beach is wrong in their approach, nor am I saying Decatur is right with theirs. It is just very interesting to see how differently departments recruit and the message they send. See both videos below and judge for yourself.

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