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4z February 9, 1996 • Page 3 The POCOP program has had one class in the past and the participating cities were very successful in recruiting and training minority police officers. The primary advantage of the program is that it accelerates the certification process from two years to four months. Because of this, it greatly expands the pool of potential minority candidates. Cities are currently effectively limited to the pool of applicants who have completed, or are about to complete, the two-year community college program in law enforcement. Under the POCOP program, a city can recruit from a substantially larger minority candidate pool. For example, a city might recruit a minority candidate with a BA degree, hire him or her as a police officer and have the candidate qualified and certified in just over four months. We have been advised that the assistance of the State Department of Employee Relations will be available to assist cities in recruiting minority candidates for this program. I understand that the City of Plymouth has already reserved two spots in the upcoming POCOP class. I urge you to seriously consider participating in this program if it is consistent with your police officer hiring needs. I believe that it would be very helpful to be able to represent to the court in our submittal on March 1, 1996 that a number of cities have made a • commitment to participate in this program. If you would like further information about the program, I would encourage you to contact Mr. John Edwards at the State Department of Public Safety. Additionally, I understand that grant money is available through the POST board for participation in this program. I would suggest that, if you are interested in the POST board grant program, you contact the POST board directly. cc: Mel Harris Larry Thompson • CLL100209 MP110-2