Welcome to the first installment of a new feature on Police1, where we shine a spotlight on standout police recruitment videos. We recently announced the winner of Police1’s top police recruitment videos of 2024, but there are so many creative and impactful police recruitment strategies to highlight that we’ve decided to keep the momentum going.
This ongoing series is designed to celebrate best practices in police recruitment campaigns and provide police departments with police recruitment video ideas. First up, we turn our focus to Western Australia, where the police force overcame extraordinary challenges to craft an inspiring recruitment campaign.
We asked Joey Catanzaro, Director of Media & Corporate Communications for the Western Australia Police Force, to share the story behind their video. Here’s what he had to say:
Policing the world’s largest jurisdiction
The Western Australia Police Force operates in the largest geographical policing jurisdiction in the world. Stretching across vast and isolated terrain, policing Western Australia requires us to be self-reliant and deploy specialized capabilities quickly to overcome the challenges of distance and ensure community safety.
Like many law enforcement agencies globally, we faced a high rate of attrition following the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, Western Australia’s population continues to grow, pushing our police force to expand to meet the increasing demand for services.
This double challenge — attrition and expansion — led to an urgent need for significant recruitment efforts.
Crafting an authentic and impactful police recruitment campaign
Policing such a vast and unique state called for a recruitment campaign that was just as big and bold. We aimed to create something authentic and impactful, showcasing the diversity of roles within our force, the camaraderie among officers, and the moments of humor and heartache that come with the badge. We also wanted to highlight the incredible trust and support we receive from the Western Australian community — an essential partnership that makes a tough job a little easier.
Our recruitment video reflects the realities of policing: it can be the best job in the world, the worst job in the world, and often both within the same shift.
To ensure authenticity, my team worked closely with our advertising agency, which spent significant time with our officers to understand their work. Instead of relying on focus groups or surveys, we drew directly from real experiences to ensure the campaign felt true to life. The result? A campaign our officers can watch with pride.
“Our recruitment video reflects the realities of policing: it can be the best job in the world, the worst job in the world, and often both within the same shift.”
The script was a collaborative effort between our team, the advertising agency and serving officers, with every uniformed (or suited) individual in the commercial being an active member of our force. We also integrated the cutting-edge technology and data-driven approaches we use to solve crimes, demonstrating how we blend innovation with the human touch that defines policing.
The 2022-23 financial year marked our highest attrition, but in 2023-24, we achieved a record number of new officer graduations — an upward trend this campaign aims to sustain. We hope our recruitment campaign inspires others to join our ranks and reflects the shared mission of law enforcement: catching criminals and keeping our communities safe.
Collaboration across borders
Our commitment to collaboration extends internationally, such as our work with the DEA on Operation Beech in 2023 — the largest drug bust in Australian history. Partnerships like these underscore the global mission of law enforcement and highlight the value of shared knowledge and resources.
Looking for ideas to elevate your recruitment efforts? Follow our spotlight series for innovative best practices and success stories. Have a video to share? Submit it here.
