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Diversity in Hiring

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Goal:

The goal of the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office Recruitment Plan is to attract qualified individuals to pursue a career with the agency with a special emphasis on recruiting underrepresented minorities and women.

Demographics of Atlantic County New Jersey

Based upon the official recording of the 2020 United States Census Bureau, the County of Atlantic has a total of 275,638 residents, these residents are represented as follows: Caucasian 154,234 or 56% of the county’s populace, Hispanic or Latino 55,982 or 20.3% of the County’s populace, African American 36,849 or 13.4% of the County’s populace, Asian 22,105 or 8% of the County’s Populace and Other 31,059 or 11.3% of the County’s Populace.

Demographics of Atlantic County Sheriff's Office:

The Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office is comprised of 113 sworn personnel and is represented as follows: Caucasian Officers (83) or 73% of the work force, African American Officers (11) or 10% of the work force, Hispanic or Latino (15) or 13% of the work force, Asian (3) or 3% of the work force, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (1) or 1% of the work force, American Indian or Alaska Native (0) or 0% of the work force. This data was generated from the 2023 Annual Report of Diversity in Law Enforcement Recruitment and Hiring submitted to the Attorney General’s Office.

Diversity In Hiring Report 01/29/2025

https://public.powerdms.com/AtlanticSO/documents/2436069

General:

  1. The Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office is subject to the provisions of New Jersey State Statutes, Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the agency’s directive on Recruitment and Selection Policy in all facets of the recruitment and selection process. Based upon the demographics of our agency we have underrepresentation with African Americans, Females, Hispanics, and Asians. 
    The Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office seeks its sworn applicants from one of three applicant pools:
    1. Police Training Commission (PTC) candidates.
    2. Non-PTC certified candidates and alternate candidates.
  2. All other interested parties.
  3.  The County of Atlantic is an Equal Opportunity Employer in all facets of the personnel selection process.

Review:

  1. The Chief Sheriff’s Officer shall cause an annual review to be done of the agency’s Recruitment Plan. The following data shall be minimally reviewed:
    1. Number of applicants vs. the number of targeted applicants
    2. Number of applicants hired vs. the number of targeted applicants hired
    3. Number of career days attended by the agency
    4. Review of social media
    5. Objectives met
  2. The agency’s Recruitment Plan is subject to revision as needed.

Objectives and Activities:

Objective #1: Recruit underrepresented members of minorities (race), ethnicity and gender categories (LGBTQ+) from current state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies, and police academies. Activities include, but are not limited to:

  • Contact the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police to obtain current mailing lists of all member agencies in the State of New Jersey.
  • Draft, Print, and distribute informational brochures that may attract qualified candidates to the agency.
  • Make effective and maximum use of all appropriate websites to attract qualified candidates to the agency.
  • Notify all regional, county, and municipal police academies of this agency’s goal to recruit minority candidates and minority alternate route candidates, and to effectively utilize established liaisons with these academies.

Objective #2: Identify, establish and maintain contact with state, county, and municipal-based identified minority organizations and social groups including but not limited to educational, religious, ethnic, racial and gender-based organizations with special attention to previously identified underrepresented minorities, those organizations include but are not limited to local and state chapters of the NAACP, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), New Jersey Women in Law Enforcement, the National Coalition of Latino Officers, and the Committee for Multi-Cultural Understanding.

The following are contacts and locations for potential career/job fair candidates:

  • Stockton university: (Dayna.Defiore@stockton.edu)
    101 Vera King Farris Drive
    Galloway, NJ 08205
  • Atlantic-Cape Community College
    5100 Black Horse Pike
    Mays Landing, NJ 08330
  • Rowan University
    201 Mullica Hill Road
    Glassboro, NJ 08028
  • Cumberland County College
    3222 College Drive
    Vineland, NJ 08360
  • Police Exposition: (police-securityexpo@comcast.net)
  • Participation in organized local National Night Out
  • Police Academies:
    • Atlantic County Police Academy
      5033 English Creek Road
      Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234
    • Cape May County Public Safety Training Center
      171 Crest Haven Road
      Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
    • Camden Couty Police Academy
      420 Woodbury Turnersville Road
      Blackwood, NJ 08012
    • Gloucester County Police Academy
      1400 Tanyard Road
      Sewell, NJ 08080
  • Social Media: All hiring opportunities will posted on the agency’s webpage (acsheriff.org), X (formerly known as Twitter) @ATLCOSHERIFF, Facebook (AtlanticCountySheriffNJ), the New Jersey State Chiefs of Police webpage and police1.com

Objective #3: Identify, establish, and maintain contact with a of minority-serving institutions, available the Rutgers Graduate School of Education's website's MSI Directory.

Prior to a hiring process, the agency will utilize objectives #1 and #2 to notify underrepresented minorities in an attempt to get them to apply for the hiring process. This notification process will include but is not limited to the internet, agency webpage, local news outlets, and college job fairs.

Summary:

The Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office instituted a very proactive recruitment and community outreach program to attract underrepresented groups identified in this report. Our agency partnered with community organizations, faith-based institutions, colleges, and universities to address the shortcomings of hiring those underrepresented groups, particularly African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. In the coming years the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office will continue to have a very robust recruiting effort to attract those underrepresented groups for possible employment with our agency. It should be noted that hiring underrepresented groups into a career in law enforcement is an ongoing process that requires a sustained commitment from our agency and the communities we serve. We will continue to build transparency and trust while trying to create a truly representative agency. This process takes time, effort, and a willingness to continue the effort to recruit underrepresented groups, which the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office is committed to do