Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Human Resources Commissioner Soo Choi announced the selection of Brown Farmer Media Group, Inc. to support the City’s outreach and recruiting campaigns aimed at increasing the diversity among candidates taking the 2017 Police Officer entry exam. The selection of Brown Farmer Media Group, a minority-and-woman owned business, underscores the Police Department’s commitment to achieve its aggressive hiring goals while also laying the groundwork for a more diverse police department. Diversity within the Department’s senior command ranks is already at historic levels. Sixty percent of police chiefs and 50 percent of deputy chiefs are African American, and more women are serving in executive leadership roles than at any previous point in the Department’s history.

The 2016 campaign, recognized as a national model by the Department of Justice Violence Reduction Network, encompassed a combination of grassroots outreach, traditional print and radio advertising, and online and social media marketing. As part of the overall innovations made to the 2016 application process, candidates were able to apply from their phones and reduced-price parking was provided at McCormick Place on the day of the exam. Through these enhancements to the recruitment and application process, CPD expanded the number of minority applicants to 71.5 percent of all candidates, a nearly 15 percent increase, with an increase carrying through to those who took and passed the test, and are referred for pre-employment processing.