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Police hope 'cadet' posts build diversity

By Eliot Kleinberg Palm Beach Post Staff Writer (02.25.15)

Calling all cadets! West Palm Beach commissioners, at Monday's meeting, will be asked to approve ambitious new "cadet" program that give part-time posts to four qualified members of According to a group who want to take the next step toward a career in law enforcement. and 24, an staff memo for Monday's meeting, the ideal candidate would be between 18 experienced member of the Explorer program and currently in college almost like a farm system for our department," Assistant Chief Sarah Mooney said Tuesday. The current minimum age for applicants is 21, and the minimum age to attend police a academy is 19. The department has about 20 Explorers a year, ages 14 to 21. Successful implementation of this program will result in having a pool of up to four part employees consistently availabl for future long-term, fulltime employment opportunities within the agency as positions become available," the memo said Cadets would work 20 to 29 hours week and would be paid $12 an hour. with administrative costs, the four positions would cost the city $77,092 a year. Because the department has open position now, the cadet spots could be filled an impact on the 2014-2015 budget, and would be included in the 2015-2016 budget, the memo The Explorer program takes place nationwide, and Mooney said Tuesday the cadet program might later expand to Explorer programs from other agencies. Police, who by Chief Bryan Kummerlen's admission have a hope the program will help it recruit and keep qualified candidates who happen to be minorities. At an August 2014 work session, Kummerlen bluntly told commissioners his department needs more blacks and Hispanics and women, not just in the ranks but in management as well Kummerlen presented pie charts showing that while the city is one-third black, 18 percent of officers are black. He said 70 percent of supervisors are white males. This in a department that, from 2003 to 2011, a black female chief, Delsa Bush. Kummerlen also said 32 officers are scheduled to leave in 2017 as part of the department's "DROP" program, in which employees agreed to departures five years out. He said that would provide an opportunity to change the department's makeup. The proposed cadet program "is just one initiative," outgoing Commissioner Ike Robinson said Tuesday. At the workshop, who's told Kummerien the problem has been around as long as on the commission, since 1999.