Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar says he thought of the idea years ago, and law enforcement recruiting in Puerto Rico isn’t unheard of.
SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar says it’s time to take a new approach to improve recruitment numbers.
“Well for me it’s never enough,” Salazar said. “Every year we have we do the same ‘Recruiting Texas’ tour where we go to do different cities within the state of Texas. We’ve gone to different places outside the state.”
The sheriff says he had thought of the idea years ago but law enforcement recruiting in Puerto Rico isn’t unheard of.
“Dallas PD being one of them, I’ve seen where NYPD is also doing some recruitment,” he said. “So I said you know what, that’s not such a bad idea, let’s at least give it a try.”
Salazar says he’ll go as far as to change the laws to open the applicant pool.
“Because I’m so passionate about this about trying to open up new opportunities for new applicants we actually got the law changed to where if you are a legal permanent resident with a clean DD214 meaning a lawfully or honorably discharged veteran you can qualify to get a license in the state of Texas.”
Sheriff Salazar isn’t as concerned about hiring a large amount of applicants – he’s more focused on the quality of recruits.
“In order for me to keep our hiring standards high which is where they’ve been, I need to put more hooks in the water,” Salazar said. “I need to use as much varied bait as I possibly can. And this is our iteration of doing just that.”