BOSTON — Two officers from the Miami (Fla.) Police Department delivered a high-energy, dynamic presentation on Miami’s recruitment success to a standing-room-only crowd of law enforcement leaders at the IACP 2024 conference.
The presenters, Major Um Set Ramos, who was once in charge of the department’s social media unit, and Officer Nicholas Perez, used numerous examples and tips to entertain, inspire and inform an audience that will increase new officer applications.
In late 2021 Miami had 59 vacancies. A year later, after the department’s most successful staffing campaign, the department had 74 vacancies. A new chief asked Perez, a founder of the department’s social media unit, to create a new recruitment video. Perez didn’t want to follow a standard recruitment video format and instead wanted to give the video a Miami-vibe, which led to the Miami Police Rick Roll video, with electronic dance music, video game style graphics and the infamous song “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
The video features genuine, heartfelt testimonials from citizens throughout the city, as well as stereotypical elements of a recruitment video like SWAT, K-9, and motorcycle, marine, bomb squad, aviation and mounted patrol units.
