Tony McCarron's Recruiting Message Serves to Fully Staff Mobile Police and Fire. Plus a Chat about the Mayor's Race

Tony McCarron is Mobile's Public Safety Recruiting Coordinator. He and I first met three years ago and he came on What's Working, when the microphones were off he told me that the Mobile Police Department was 120 officers short of what they were budgeted for. That's a lot of law enforecement vacancies and the criminally minded, had they known that, may have taken advantage of it. Today they're fully staffed and it's because Tony found a recruiting recipe that works. He learned what today's youth, primarily males between the ages of 20 and 26, wanted in a job and, more importantly, a mentor. Tony delivers that message and stands behind it his commitment to the recruits. He also worked to up their pay. The City of Mobile is lucky for it. Furthermore, Mobile Fire and Rescue is now riding four to a truck and that's a big deal. The city's fire and crime numbers reflect fully staffed departments - success measurements for fire and policing have risen and stay high. Tony tells me how he did it, what his message was, and what private companies who struggle to recruit can learn from what Tony is doing.

We then turn to the Mobile mayoral race. Tony warns the wrong election results will cause droves of law enforcement to leave their job. "Mobile is in a good place," Tony says. "Let's not jeapordize that." 

Tony offered his phone to anyone interested in joining the force: [phone]