The Frankfort Police Department announced today that the new “Chief for one minute” program will be open to Clinton County juniors and seniors interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement.
– Photo courtesy of FPD.
Chief Scott Shoemaker commented that the program was inspired by a young man, Jackson Ray, who visited the department to fulfill community service hours for the National Honor Society. As Shoemaker worked alongside Ray, sweeping floors, taking out trash and more, he realized that introducing juniors and seniors to the world of law enforcement would help the students prepare for their lives after graduation. Shoemaker assured interested candidates that community service will not be required during the program.
“He was actually helping me clean the police department a little bit and helping us in the office,” Shoemaker said. “While he was there, I thought that this might be a good idea to have 17 and 18 year olds who are actually interested in law enforcement come up and see what we do just for a short little bit.”
Upon Ray’s “appointment” to Police Chief for a minute, his first action was “firing” Shoemaker as payback for the hard work he completed during his hours of community service. Shoemaker commented that he expects Ray to thrive in the field following his interactions with him that inspired the program.
“Obviously, he has the personality and charisma to be a police officer one day,” Shoemaker said. “He was pretty feisty with me. I think he wanted the seat right now.”
The program will include opportunities to tour the station, meet officers, detectives and staff members, ask questions about the road to law enforcement and more. The participants, based upon parental permission, will also be allowed to attend short ride-alongs, around one or two hours, where they will be introduced to an officer and experience the atmosphere of being an active police officer in Frankfort.
“We’ll give an all-access tour of the building, meeting officers, detectives, staff and getting to know us,” Shoemaker said. “These things won’t be an all-day event, but what we’ll do is we’ll get a tour of the department, kind of let them see what we do inside, and talk to me if they have any questions about how to get prepared and, depending on the parent as long as they sign off on it, we can do ride-alongs.”
The participants will be permitted to sit at the Chief’s desk to experience the opportunity of being Police Chief for one minute, but Shoemaker stated that the one-minute position will not hold the power to make executive decisions normally attributed to the Chief, such as firing personnel, conducting orders, filing sensitive paperwork and more.
“Not everyone wants to be a police officer, and even fewer want to be the Police Chief, so I want them to get a chance to sit in the chair and get that experience,” Shoemaker said. “The Mayor won’t allow them to actually be the Chief for a minute, especially if they’re going to fire me every time.”
Shoemaker expressed that the program will allow for the department to reach younger individuals in the community in hopes to inspire those seeking law enforcement positions after graduation to return to the Frankfort community to help serve those around them.
“We have to recruit younger,” Shoemaker said. “In the past, we’d flip the ‘now hiring’ sign, and people would show up, and I think I want to do more direct recruitment. In this case, I want to limit it to residents of Clinton County, because that’s who I’m trying to target to work for us. For right now, we’re just going to do students from Clinton County schools.”
Shoemaker commented that another main aspect of the program is to help juniors and seniors prepare for their lives after graduation in regard to law enforcement opportunities. Shoemaker expressed that the route many officers take does not immediately require college degrees, which is a path that has developed numerous police officers in Frankfort into outstanding pillars of the community.
“We can get them in and talk about college or working at the jail or dispatch,” Shoemaker said. “My last three hires were trained at our jail and have been really good. It’s a good program to look at between 18 and 21, do you go to college or do you get into corrections, dispatching or that kind of stuff. We know we have three or four years before they’re even eligible, but we want to plant a seed that whatever they do, they could come back to Frankfort.”
Clinton County students 17 and older are encouraged to apply for the program. Shoemaker stated that the program may expand to include opportunities with Clinton County Central Dispatch for job shadowing in the future. For more information, email Chief Shoemaker at sshoemaker284@frankfort-in.gov or call the department at 765-654-4245.