Atlanta Police Department's viral video humanizes officers and boosts recruitment effort

Viral video to help promote APD recruitment

You may have seen it on social media: the Atlanta Police Department is showing off their dancing skills in a new video that’s hoping to attract new officers to the force.

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Police Department is hiring, and it is putting out the hiring call in a fun, now viral video on social media. 

The video for the song ‘Boots on the Ground’ shows officers in many different roles dancing, singing and laughing together. The caption explains that the force is about so more than the job.

You can watch the full video HERE

APD viral recruitment video

What they're saying:

"I wanted to show the human side of policing," said Lt. Courtney Murphy, who helped come up with the concept for the video. "I want people to see that behind the uniform is actually a person. We’re sons and daughters and mothers and fathers, and we have souls."

The department is hiring for all kinds of positions, and it is specifically highlighting the contributions of female officers. APD is made up of about 20% female officers, with the goal of hitting 30% by 2030.

"As women, we take this job seriously because we nurture this with our full heart," said Sgt. Blue. "I love being a police officer!"

"Women are really good at multitasking," said Lt. Murphy. "Women, percentage wise, are less likely to use force in certain situations. So, having more female officers also, benefits the community with the nurturing environment and the nurturing vibe that women have."

Like departments across Georgia and the nation, recruitment for the Atlanta Police Department has been tough for the past several years. "2020, it was really hard," said Lt. Murphy. "We all know the different protests and riots and just the temperature and the climate. You know, the country at that time, nobody wanted to be a police officer. We lost a lot of good officers who just mentally just they were done. And I, we all understood that. And now, I will say that it's picking up."

Murphy said the department has seen more than 5,000 applications this year, with 118 of those applications becoming new hires. "Things are really looking positive for us, but we still want to continue to build a force because as we continue, people are going to retire. Not only that, but the city is growing quickly. And when the city grows, the police department needs to grow with it also," said Lt. Murphy.

Sgt. Blue and Lt. Murphy said joining the force means joining a family, an agency that has resources to keep officers healthy, and a path to financial stability.

"One of the things that I think, this department capitalizes on is the fact that we have a chaplaincy program, we have peer support, we have a wellness center, we have EAP, we have, outlets for you to just be able to talk to your peers one on one," said Sgt. Blue. "Not only that, we are able to take promotional exams. This department truly offers it all as it as it relates to recruitment. We are one of the only departments that get the opportunity to go out of state and recruit. We go to Miami, New York, and we get qualified applicants from those two states in particular all the time. I'm born and raised Brooklyn, New York. And, I'm glad that somebody recruited me from New York to come here to the South. This culture here, the southern culture here, is phenomenal."

APD touts benefits for prospective officers

Dig deeper:

The department is working to be on the cutting edge when it comes to mitigating the stigma around mental health care and emotional recovery after tough shifts.

Officer Menos Bouquette, who helps manage recruitment, created a mental health workshop to open conversations about mental health. It’s just one way the department is trying to help officers cope.

"We came up with the idea to put it together, and the team got on board," said Bouquette. "We have resources like the wellness program and different things like that that we are changing. And most importantly, we wanted to have an officer come in and speak about his issues. So it's so easy to talk about it. But we wanted somebody that was in-house that suffers from some type of mental health to say, ‘how did you get through those mental challenges?’ So we wanted to be very transparent."

In terms of benefits, APD offers many options including childcare help, housing and tuition reimbursement. All pieces to help a culture of more well-balanced officers who can give their all to the job and to their families.

"I know this job like the back of my hand—and the people that we’re trying to hire moving forward, we want to hire people with that same passion because when you have the passion for what you do, it never seems like work," said Sgt. Blue.

"The fun that we have, the family that you gain, outside of work is, is a beautiful thing," said Sgt. Murphy. "So a lot of people said, you know, they want a career, but this isn't a career to me. It's a lifestyle. It's a family. And if you want to join a family and have this lifestyle and be a part of this, then Atlanta is the only place to go."

What you can do:

For more information on how to apply, visit: www.joinatlantapd.org