In this episode, we sit down with Captain John Walker of the Philadelphia Police Department to discuss his bold transition from operations to recruitment. Tasked with filling 1,200 vacancies, Walker took a data-driven, no-nonsense approach to fix what wasn’t working—cutting processing times, improving candidate communication, and shifting recruitment branding to reflect real officers. If your agency is stuck in outdated methods, Captain Walker’s story offers a playbook for modernizing and transforming police recruiting from the inside out.
How Philadelphia PD Transformed its Recruiting with Captain John Walker
More Podcasts
Recruiting for public safety is not a checkbox assignment you hand to the next person who is available. Over the past decade, we’ve seen departments civilianize many support functions, including policy management, media relations, and data analysis, for effectiveness and efficiency. When recruiting is treated as “extra duty,” agencies lose
Few understand the law enforcement profession or the recruiting crisis more than Banning Sweatland. A law enforcement professional and military veteran, Banning discusses all things leadership, recruiting, and retention with Travis Yates and SAFEGUARD Recruiting.
SAFEGUARD Recruiting is dedicated to recruiting first responders and in the latest podcast, Doug Larsen and Travis Yates discuss the importance of a department's website and how that can translate to more applicants and hires.