Elgin Police Department Casts Net To Puerto Rico For Recruits
(CBS) -- In the wake of the situation in Ferguson, Mo., many police departments are realizing the importance of reflecting the communities they serve.
CBS 2's Mai Martinez explains why one suburban law-enforcement agency is taking their search for diversity all the way to Puerto Rico.
Officer Eric Echevarria is very familiar with Elgin's Latino community; after all, he grew up here.
And since his childhood, Elgin's Hispanic population has soared.
"If you look, you're just going to see Latinos everywhere, and you have Puerto Ricans, Mexican, Hondurans, Peruvian," he says.
According to Elgin police, Latinos now make up roughly 45 percent of the city's 110,000 residents. But that presence isn't as well-represented on Elgin's police force.
"Right now, the city has an objective to more closely mirror our community, and one area where we are significantly underrepresented is in the Hispanic community," Police Chief Jeff Swoboda says.
In fact, Chief Swoboda says out of his 180 officers, only 19 are Hispanic. He hopes a candidate recruitment trip to Puerto Rico will change that.
"That will be one area that we're going to that obviously offers us a large pool of Hispanic candidates," he says.
Officer Echevarria will be part of the Elgin delegation. He says the island offers candidates who are not only qualified, but fluent in Spanish and know the Latino culture and that can make a big difference when policing.
People living in Elgin like the idea of casting a wider recruitment net.
"I think it's great. They should try to go everywhere and try to get everybody," Hector Armando Garcia says.
The department is also expanding its recruitment efforts to 13 states and dropping the bachelor's degree requirement for veterans and current law-enforcement. For more information about qualifications, click here.
The Elgin officers will leave for Puerto Rico Monday. So far, 71 people have signed up to take the police exam on the island, and hundreds more have expressed interest.