COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – In recent years, law enforcement agencies locally and nationwide faced significant challenges in recruiting. It was a downward trend that officials knew couldn’t continue, so a change had to be made.
Officials we spoke with say part of the reason was because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests we saw across the country. It made people hesitant to sign up and since then, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has put a lot of effort into recruiting.
“I knew that I wanted to work in or be in law enforcement. However, I just didn’t pursue it,” said Deputy Latasha Wilkerson, who joined the FCSO in May 2024.
“I always looked at law enforcement as the good people, people who helped the community. Always wanted to pay it back to the community who welcomed me when I immigrated to the United States of America,” said Deputy Yasser Hamed, who joined the FCSO in September 2024.
Deputy Wilkerson and Hamed are two new recruits. Both had previous career paths prior to this but always knew that one day they’d find themselves working in law enforcement. Both say they chose the FCSO because of the endless opportunities.
“I want to make it to the detective bureau. I want to make it to community relations. I want to make it to recruiting,” said Hamed.
With recruitment numbers declining the last few years, it left law enforcement agencies to get creative. In November 2022, the sheriff’s office started a new recruitment division, and it hired Chief Marvin Hill to run that division. Prior to the FCSO, he spent nearly 30 years working for the Ohio State Highway Patrol in which he ran their recruitment division.
“Mid 2023 my team was in place and that’s when we started recruiting heavy,” said Chief Hill.
One thing it focused on was community engagement. Chief Hill says he knows the importance of bringing in officers that represent the communities they serve.
“We need to get involved in the community and let people see us and become friends and build relations with people,” he said.
Hill also credits their new streamlined hiring process. It can be a long and lengthy journey to become an officer and they’re working to make it easier. One thing Hill says makes them stand out is, if you’re going through the process, you’ll be paired with a recruiter who will be by your side and talk you through it.
“You know, they have already experienced things, always was like, if you need me, I'm here,” said Wilkerson.
“I was able to reach out directly to my recruiter. I had his direct phone number. I was texting him, emailing ‘hi’,” said Hamed.
This year was one of its most successful years yet in terms of recruiting. While it faced some struggles along the way, Hill says the FCSO increase in new recruits has to do with its efforts to build a relationship with their community.
“We’ve graduated 116 people in 2024 and that’s huge for the sheriff’s office, that's the largest amount of people ever,” said Hill, “We started going into the urban areas, going into universities, going into colleges. The important thing, though, is we didn't just target criminal justice classes. We targeted other classes and courses, too”
Hill says it is going into 2025 with the same energy it had in 2024, adding that he’s always looking for new ways to recruit.
