The Pharr Police Department has been increasing its recruiting efforts, and those efforts appear to be paying off for a department that is looking to evolve.
Approximately 176 recruits registered to take the department’s entrance exam, and roughly 130 showed up Saturday morning to take the exam at the Pharr Development and Research Center for a chance to earn one of the 20 available spots available within the department.
Police Chief Andy Harvey called it a record number for the department — a testament of the department’s recruiting process.
“The thing about today is we’ve been working pretty hard at recruiting and doing things that we don’t normally do,” Harvey said Saturday. “We went out and searched around the Valley, but also outside the Valley at job fairs, at Sam Houston State University, Corpus Christi, Victoria — other places that we don’t normally do.”
Harvey said Saturday’s attendance was a good indicator that the department is generating interest.
“It shows me that people do still want to be a police officer,” Harvey said. “They want to serve in that capacity. I also believe that, just as important, it’s important for people that this is the place for them to be a police officer. We just got a 7% pay raise on Oct. 1, and I think that helps, but I really do believe that the things that we’ve been doing over the past year — I think that we’re more relevant than perhaps we were in the past.”
Those things include the department’s new mounted unit which was introduced in April, the addition of a motorcycle unit, as well as its work to adapt new mental health training and increased community engagement.
“I think that relevance has helped us, and I think that has really put an interest in our organization,” Harvey said. “People are applying for it, and I think all that has helped.”
Recruits that pass Saturday’s test will be required to pass a physical fitness test which consists of them completing exercises on a row machine in a certain amount of time depending on their age. The test is standardized by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“I say there’s around 20 (positions) because there’s always attrition — one or two that leave here or there,” Harvey said. “The reason we have so many is because the commission allowed us to grow the force. Now we have added to the authorized strengths.”
Harvey said anyone else who may be interested in joining the Pharr Police Department may have to wait until next summer due to Saturday’s large turnout.
“I’m kind of like a proud dad,” Harvey said. “We’ve been working hard at this. It’s not just recruiting, which helped, but it’s just the work we’ve been doing the last year. This is a sign of that work we’ve put into it. For me, it’s pretty cool to see.
“I do believe that when you build something special, people will want to be a part of it.”
