The Plant City Police Department’s mission to protect and serve the community has always been top priority.
In continuing its efforts, the department is always looking for new recruits to join their family and help push its agenda forward. To increase its candidate pool, the department has now started offering an incentive by sponsoring applicants who are willing to train at the police academy.
Plant City Police Chief James Bradford sees this as a plus to help them get through school with fewer obstacles along the way.
“Basically, what we do is we hire them as trainees,” he said. “They go to the police academy and they’re getting paid like regular employees to go to school.”
However, in order to receive sponsorship and entrance into the academy, applicants need to successfully pass the Florida Department of Law Enforcement – Florida Basic Abilities Test (FBAT). If recruits leave the program early or are unsuccessful in completing their courses, they may have to pay back their tuition.
The town’s police department uses social media platforms such as Facebook to encourage applicants, and has been successful to a certain degree, Bradford said.
It also relies on the Plant City community to let each other know about openings by word-of-mouth.
Applicants are sent to the police academy either at Polk State College or Hillsborough Community College, where they go through 770 hours of training. Then they do an additional six weeks of in-house training, followed by three to four months of field training with a senior officer.
“Through the whole duration of the training, the trainee starts off observing everything,” Bradford said. “As time goes on, they’re taught, (then) they demonstrate that they can do it and more responsibility is given to them. The goal is by the end of the training stage, the trainee is handling everything and the role reverses. The field trainer is the one that’s observing.”
Since Bradford has taken his role as chief at the police department nearly two years ago, he has hired 11 new officers.
This year, he has already taken in several more recruits to be a part of the force.
“We’ve actually hired five (officers),” he said. “The first five have finished the academy and are in the process of going through our in-house training, before they can go into field training.”
Those officers are: Maria Ramirez; Oresha West; Michael Pietrusinski; Aaron Bennett; and Michael Sanzone.
They became the first recruits to be sponsored by the Plant City Police Department.
On May 6, there was a graduation ceremony for Basic Law Enforcement Recruit Academy Class Basic Leaders Course 22-01.
Sanzone and Bennett were recognized at the ceremony after completing the course.
They are also certified corrections officers.
Also, Kevin Lam and Devin Wilson were recently hired.
Neither were sponsored but Wilson came aboard as a certified Florida sworn officer, and Lam had already gone through a corrections to law enforcement cross-over academy.
Bennett worked as a corrections – or detention officer four years ago.
After being sponsored by the Plant City Police Department he was sent to Polk State College where he received crossover training – going from a corrections officer to a police officer. His prior discipline as a corrections officer helped him make a smooth transition into the police force, the 24-year-old said.
“My whole life, ever since I could talk, I wanted to go into law enforcement, and the detention was just a steppingstone,” he said. “Once I got through that, I got a good amount of experience. Then I just continued my career with the crossover.”
West said she always had a passion for law enforcement, having taken courses throughout high school that were related to that line of work. She was ready to become a police officer fresh out of school, but a mentor encouraged her to take another path first. West was advised to work in correctional institutions and work around inmates so she could build experience that would prepare her for the police force. And so she did.
She went through crossover training as well before landing her job at the Plant City Police Department. Bennett is from Ruskin and West is from Lakeland. However, they made a conscious decision to serve Plant City for the same reasons, they said.
“I needed a small-town feel,” Bennett said. “That’s what I was looking for. I was looking for a smaller agency. Everybody knows everybody, and everybody treats you like family.”
West also noted that Bradford has always been gracious, welcoming, and he engages in pleasant conversation with them in the department.
Overall, the employment of police and detectives nationwide is expected to grow by 7% from 2020 to 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about as fast as the average for all other occupations.
It also states that about 67,100 openings for both police and detectives are projected per year, on average, over the decade.
A job on the police force can be rewarding because of the teamwork and comradery that takes place in the department for the good of the citizens, West said.
“It’s about the community,” she said. “It’s about making people feel like you’re there for them, not when it’s just time to be there for someone else.”
She learned that earlier on when taking part in a mentorship program called the Police Athletic League. She had opportunities to participate in activities with officers, do charity work such as feeding the homeless, and taking college tours.
It’s that partnership with the citizens that helps to strengthen the police department, Bennett said.
“Without community support, agencies like this – they don’t have a chance of changing anything,” he said. “What helps a lot with that is the festivals. Of course, everybody loves the Strawberry Festival. I believe that helps a lot with interacting with the community, building that relationship that every agency needs.”
The Plant City Police Department is always welcoming, and willing to sponsor applicants as there are vacancies for officers and dispatchers.
www.plantcitygov.com/police