Ossian police commissioners probe ways of letting the public know about department vacancies
By GLEN WERLING
Members of the Ossian Board of Metropolitan Police Commissioners questioned at Tuesday’s meeting how they can make it known to the public that the department is taking applications for full-time officers.
Interim Police Chief Brian McClish said that he has posted the job opening with the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and on the town’s website.
Commissioner Bob Miller thought a broader net needed to be cast. He suggested advertising the opening in area newspapers. Commissioners Caleb Chichester and Jay Esparza questioned the efficacy of such a move. Chichester wanted to find out how much it would cost before proceeding with any advertising.
“I think it wouldn’t hurt to put it in the Bluffton and the Ossian or put it in the Fort Wayne papers,” Miller said. “I think if you put it out there in a paper where people can see it, you draw more attention to it and you may end up with some different, with some more candidates,” he added.
“Do people still read newspapers?” Chichester asked, clarifying that he does read the newspaper online, but skips past the classified ads.
McClish said that it has been his experience that the largest pool of applicants have come from postings on the town’s website and through ILEA.
Getting people to apply has not been too much of a problem, McClish said. The problem has been getting people to follow through and/or finding candidates who are qualified for the position, he said.
Miller countered that when its advertised on the website or at ILEA, its targeting a specific base who are looking for that information. “If you put it out there in a newspaper and you advertise, you have a lot bigger (audience),” Miller said.
And, town council liaison to the board, Dennis Ealing observed that older people do read newspapers and while they are not the target audience for the open positions, they share what they’ve read with others.
Miller said there are some people who may just not be thinking about it but when they read there is an opening at the Ossian Police Department they might consider it.
Chichester suggested to McClish that he reach out to newspapers and see how much an advertisement will cost.
Chichester said he would recommend the position also be listed on the Town Hall sign and that the pre-application is available on the Ossian website at ossianin.com/police-department/application
In a related matter, Esparza presented the members of the board with several ideas of expanding the department’s presence on both Facebook and Twitter. He also recommended that the commissioners have a Facebook page of their own and to create a way for the public to contact the commissioners via email.
In other business, the board members:
• Appointed Esparza as secretary. Esparza replaces Stan Reed in the position. Reed chose not to seek reappointment to his position on the commissioners last December.
• Set the commissioners’ meetings for the first Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. and the third Tuesdays of months when the volume of business requires two meetings per month. Those meetings will also be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Collier’s Comfort building, 215 N. Jefferson St.
• Received the first bill from the Wells County Sheriff’s Office for coverage the office is providing to Ossian on an interim basis until the Ossian Police Department is back up to full strength. The invoice was for 72 hours at $45 an hour for a total of $3,240 for January. McClish said that the partnership between the two departments has worked very well so far and he’s been pleased with it.
• Learned from McClish that new part-time officer Scott Adam is working out well. Adam brings years of law enforcement experience to the position, McClish observed, so there’s not a lot of training required. He did just complete written training on the department’s conducted electrical weapons and just needs to do some target shooting with the electrical weapons.
• Learned from McClish that he recently completed some Gracie self-defense tactics from part-time officer Russ Mounsey, who is trained as an instructor in the tactics. Gracie uses jiu jitsu tactics to subdue a combative subject.
The next meeting of the board is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, at Collier’s Comfort.
glenw@news-banner.com
