Interesting story RE: Franklin’s police escort
- Thread starter JWB389
- Start date
Maybe they could attract more interest if they had video of a trooper punching CJF in the nuts after another Ahia State disaster …
Sounds interesting, but I am not disabling my ad blocker to read it.
If you refresh that popup may go away. They have it coded so I can’t copy/paste. Will see if I can figure out another way to post.
So then it wasn't James that sent the chopper in? I thought he was in charge of everything.
Only Paterno held that much power.So then it wasn't James that sent the chopper in? I thought he was in charge of everything.
Does seeing a uniformed trooper tailing Penn State football Coach James Franklin at games make you want to join the Pennsylvania State Police?
That’s the goal of the department’s new recruitment initiative.
What began last season at home games has expanded this season. At least one trooper also will accompany Franklin at away games to raise the visibility of the state police with the college football fans.
The next opportunity to get a glimpse at them is Saturday, when eighth-ranked Penn State hosts Kent State.
Three troopers and a corporal – all with some collegiate or professional athletic experience – are assigned to a detail funded with taxpayers’ money.
This is separate from the university-reimbursed game day security that state police, among other law enforcement agencies, provide.
Besides hanging around Franklin on game days and positioning themselves in the camera’s view, the trooper recruiters also make regular visits to campus attending practices and team meetings.
That part of the arrangement is to get to know players in hopes of building trust and getting them to think about a law enforcement career.
“I can’t recruit you if you don’t see me,” said Capt. Jamal Pratt, director of the state police’s recruitment services division, which employs 16 full-time recruiters and works with the Office of Community Engagement on this initiative.
“We want to see where we can get the best marketing and advertisement, that reachability to make our brand become more of a household name.”
Pratt said as a result of the pandemic, negative interactions with police nationwide in recent years and a tight labor market, recruiting has dipped, becoming a rising concern for the agency.
To help reverse that trend, Gov. Josh Shapiro last year dropped the college degree requirement for cadets to widen the applicant pool as trooper vacancies continue with retirements and promotions.
In the spring, the department launched its first-ever marketing campaign. The “Join us” campaign included billboards, television and social media and cost about $700,000, which Pratt said is far more costly than the Penn State partnership.
Additionally, state police Commissioner Christopher Paris told lawmakers at a March budget hearing that marketing experts say people aren’t going to contemplate such a life change by just reading a billboard.
He said, “They’re going to need to be contacted in multiple ways, multiple platforms.”
Filling the recruit pipeline
The state police employs several methods for recruiting, from its Camp Cadet youth program to its Law and Leadership Program for adults. Last year, Pratt said recruiters participated in nearly 2,500 career fairs and events in Pennsylvania and neighboring states.
These stepped-up efforts are bearing fruit, Pratt said.
Applications for the police academy grew from 2,100 in 2022 — the year before Pratt’s position was created — to 6,400 last year.
This year, he said, the agency is on pace to receive 7,000 applications with hopes of boosting that to 8,000 next year. To put it in historical context, there were 12,000 applicants for the cadet class when Pratt applied in 2006.
“My job is to get people to fill our academy seats three times a year for our cadet classes to shorten our vacancies – and we’ve done that,” Pratt said.
Initiatives like the partnership with Penn State football — and its possible expansion to other universities — are needed to ensure a strong talent pipeline to fill vacancies as they arise in the department that has a complement of 4,410 positions. Currently, there are about 230 vacancies.
“The more outreach I can get, the more visibility I can get, the better it helps us to get interest for folks who want to apply,” Pratt said.
That’s the goal of the department’s new recruitment initiative.
What began last season at home games has expanded this season. At least one trooper also will accompany Franklin at away games to raise the visibility of the state police with the college football fans.
The next opportunity to get a glimpse at them is Saturday, when eighth-ranked Penn State hosts Kent State.
Three troopers and a corporal – all with some collegiate or professional athletic experience – are assigned to a detail funded with taxpayers’ money.
This is separate from the university-reimbursed game day security that state police, among other law enforcement agencies, provide.
Besides hanging around Franklin on game days and positioning themselves in the camera’s view, the trooper recruiters also make regular visits to campus attending practices and team meetings.
That part of the arrangement is to get to know players in hopes of building trust and getting them to think about a law enforcement career.
“I can’t recruit you if you don’t see me,” said Capt. Jamal Pratt, director of the state police’s recruitment services division, which employs 16 full-time recruiters and works with the Office of Community Engagement on this initiative.
“We want to see where we can get the best marketing and advertisement, that reachability to make our brand become more of a household name.”
Pratt said as a result of the pandemic, negative interactions with police nationwide in recent years and a tight labor market, recruiting has dipped, becoming a rising concern for the agency.
To help reverse that trend, Gov. Josh Shapiro last year dropped the college degree requirement for cadets to widen the applicant pool as trooper vacancies continue with retirements and promotions.
In the spring, the department launched its first-ever marketing campaign. The “Join us” campaign included billboards, television and social media and cost about $700,000, which Pratt said is far more costly than the Penn State partnership.
Additionally, state police Commissioner Christopher Paris told lawmakers at a March budget hearing that marketing experts say people aren’t going to contemplate such a life change by just reading a billboard.
He said, “They’re going to need to be contacted in multiple ways, multiple platforms.”
Filling the recruit pipeline
The state police employs several methods for recruiting, from its Camp Cadet youth program to its Law and Leadership Program for adults. Last year, Pratt said recruiters participated in nearly 2,500 career fairs and events in Pennsylvania and neighboring states.
These stepped-up efforts are bearing fruit, Pratt said.
Applications for the police academy grew from 2,100 in 2022 — the year before Pratt’s position was created — to 6,400 last year.
This year, he said, the agency is on pace to receive 7,000 applications with hopes of boosting that to 8,000 next year. To put it in historical context, there were 12,000 applicants for the cadet class when Pratt applied in 2006.
“My job is to get people to fill our academy seats three times a year for our cadet classes to shorten our vacancies – and we’ve done that,” Pratt said.
Initiatives like the partnership with Penn State football — and its possible expansion to other universities — are needed to ensure a strong talent pipeline to fill vacancies as they arise in the department that has a complement of 4,410 positions. Currently, there are about 230 vacancies.
“The more outreach I can get, the more visibility I can get, the better it helps us to get interest for folks who want to apply,” Pratt said.
The cost
While Pratt was unable to provide a dollar figure the partnership since the time spent there is built into recruiters’ normal work schedule, one thing is certain: Penn State does not foot the bill.
Pratt said he could have easily asked for reimbursement – and the university offered it – but Pratt refused. He said that would have changed the reason the troopers were there.
“This is not a security or escort assignment,” he said. “This is a recruitment opportunity for us.”
Kris Petersen, Franklin’s spokeswoman, declined to discuss specifics about the financial arrangements associated with the partnership.
However, the university is covering the travel cost for a trooper to go to away games, letting him join the team on their chartered flight and stay in their block of reserved rooms, said Lt. Adam Reed, state police spokesman.
The assignment does involve some time-and-a-half overtime pay.
Last year, during the two home games recruiters worked, the three officers assigned to those games each accrued eight hours of overtime, Reed said.
So far this season, between the West Virginia away game and the Bowling Green home game, troopers accrued a combined total of 17 hours of overtime.
Using the average hourly overtime rate for troopers of $66.74, that adds up to just under $3,000.
Pratt said consider the millions of views that money bought.
At the Michigan game last season, it was 4.2 million. During ESPN’s College GameDay pre-game show, a shot of a trooper standing behind Franklin at the West Virginia game drew over 9 million views.
“There’s not a single recruitment event that I can send someone to that is going to get that kind of visibility and garner that kind of attention,” Pratt said. ”So we do look at the finances because I’m very concerned with how we spend our money and are we being financially responsible with my division not only to accomplish our goal but I have to still answer to my constituents. Those are my tax dollars going out, too.”
Next month, a recruiter will travel west with the team for the University of Southern California game. Pratt said the only additional pay the recruiter will receive will be for any overtime worked on game day. The rest will be compensated as part of his normal work week.
Mentoring role
As part of the Penn State partnership, recruiters spend time with the team at practices and meetings two to three days a week as part of their eight-hour shift.
The idea is to establish a connection with players and lay a foundation that could lead to considering a law enforcement career, Pratt said.
Of course, most of the student athletes have their minds set on making it to the professional level, so recruitment efforts are more subtle.
The consistency and familiarity that grows from having the same four recruiters show up regularly, bantering with players, offering words of encouragement and getting to know them is a foot in the door.
When reality sets in that few will make it to the NFL, Pratt said the athletes are aware another career opportunity awaits them in the state police with its roughly 50 specialized positions.
In explaining the partnership to Franklin, Pratt told him of the challenges the state police face in finding recruits – and how spending time with players could help with that.
Rather than coming out with a strong we-want-you message, Pratt said recruiters will mentor players and share their experiences as student athletes.
Pratt said recruiters point out it took them dedication, commitment, focus, leadership, intelligence and being physically fit – the same qualities that happen to be ones the state police look for in cadets.
“I can’t do that unless we can get in front of you in a captive way,” Pratt said.
Franklin saw how that fits with the program’s desire to help the student athletes grow, he said.
Petersen, Franklin’s spokeswoman, said, “The relationship with the Pennsylvania State Police provides an opportunity for our student-athletes to see potential future opportunities when their football careers are done.”
She said it sheds a different light on what police officers do outside of what is associated with law enforcement such as working crime scenes or doing highway patrol. Petersen said troopers provide educational opportunities with the team at meetings.
“Both sides have found this relationship to be very valuable,” Petersen said.
While Pratt was unable to provide a dollar figure the partnership since the time spent there is built into recruiters’ normal work schedule, one thing is certain: Penn State does not foot the bill.
Pratt said he could have easily asked for reimbursement – and the university offered it – but Pratt refused. He said that would have changed the reason the troopers were there.
“This is not a security or escort assignment,” he said. “This is a recruitment opportunity for us.”
Kris Petersen, Franklin’s spokeswoman, declined to discuss specifics about the financial arrangements associated with the partnership.
However, the university is covering the travel cost for a trooper to go to away games, letting him join the team on their chartered flight and stay in their block of reserved rooms, said Lt. Adam Reed, state police spokesman.
The assignment does involve some time-and-a-half overtime pay.
Last year, during the two home games recruiters worked, the three officers assigned to those games each accrued eight hours of overtime, Reed said.
So far this season, between the West Virginia away game and the Bowling Green home game, troopers accrued a combined total of 17 hours of overtime.
Using the average hourly overtime rate for troopers of $66.74, that adds up to just under $3,000.
Pratt said consider the millions of views that money bought.
At the Michigan game last season, it was 4.2 million. During ESPN’s College GameDay pre-game show, a shot of a trooper standing behind Franklin at the West Virginia game drew over 9 million views.
“There’s not a single recruitment event that I can send someone to that is going to get that kind of visibility and garner that kind of attention,” Pratt said. ”So we do look at the finances because I’m very concerned with how we spend our money and are we being financially responsible with my division not only to accomplish our goal but I have to still answer to my constituents. Those are my tax dollars going out, too.”
Next month, a recruiter will travel west with the team for the University of Southern California game. Pratt said the only additional pay the recruiter will receive will be for any overtime worked on game day. The rest will be compensated as part of his normal work week.
Mentoring role
As part of the Penn State partnership, recruiters spend time with the team at practices and meetings two to three days a week as part of their eight-hour shift.
The idea is to establish a connection with players and lay a foundation that could lead to considering a law enforcement career, Pratt said.
Of course, most of the student athletes have their minds set on making it to the professional level, so recruitment efforts are more subtle.
The consistency and familiarity that grows from having the same four recruiters show up regularly, bantering with players, offering words of encouragement and getting to know them is a foot in the door.
When reality sets in that few will make it to the NFL, Pratt said the athletes are aware another career opportunity awaits them in the state police with its roughly 50 specialized positions.
In explaining the partnership to Franklin, Pratt told him of the challenges the state police face in finding recruits – and how spending time with players could help with that.
Rather than coming out with a strong we-want-you message, Pratt said recruiters will mentor players and share their experiences as student athletes.
Pratt said recruiters point out it took them dedication, commitment, focus, leadership, intelligence and being physically fit – the same qualities that happen to be ones the state police look for in cadets.
“I can’t do that unless we can get in front of you in a captive way,” Pratt said.
Franklin saw how that fits with the program’s desire to help the student athletes grow, he said.
Petersen, Franklin’s spokeswoman, said, “The relationship with the Pennsylvania State Police provides an opportunity for our student-athletes to see potential future opportunities when their football careers are done.”
She said it sheds a different light on what police officers do outside of what is associated with law enforcement such as working crime scenes or doing highway patrol. Petersen said troopers provide educational opportunities with the team at meetings.
“Both sides have found this relationship to be very valuable,” Petersen said.
‘The money shot’
Many Division 1 schools have police officers accompanying their head football coach for security.
A PennLive survey of Ohio State, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana and Maryland found all either use their own university department to escort their head coach on game day or they reimburse the state law enforcement agency for that service.
Penn State relies on its university police for both home and away games to escort Franklin on the field and provide security.
The university officers walk beside Franklin. Notice, he said, the troopers, wearing their flat-brimmed hat, tidy gray uniform and duty belt, walk behind the coach for the sole reason of getting in the picture when cameras are trained on Franklin.
As Franklin enters the stadium locking elbows with players, the troopers stand at the side of that line, angling to get into the frame. At half time, they scurry behind the coach.
Most important of all, though, Pratt said is being behind Franklin at the end of the game when he goes to midfield to shake hands with the opposing coach.
“That’s the money shot if you will,” Pratt said. “That’s the time where I need them to be because that’s where the cameras are. After that game concludes, they go back into the tunnel. Our job’s over.”
Throughout game day, if an incident were to occur requiring police involvement, he said the trooper’s assignment would change.
“Our job is still our job,” Pratt said. “I can’t allow for a crime to occur in my presence and not take some form of action, but that is not our primary role.”
Many Division 1 schools have police officers accompanying their head football coach for security.
A PennLive survey of Ohio State, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana and Maryland found all either use their own university department to escort their head coach on game day or they reimburse the state law enforcement agency for that service.
Penn State relies on its university police for both home and away games to escort Franklin on the field and provide security.
The university officers walk beside Franklin. Notice, he said, the troopers, wearing their flat-brimmed hat, tidy gray uniform and duty belt, walk behind the coach for the sole reason of getting in the picture when cameras are trained on Franklin.
As Franklin enters the stadium locking elbows with players, the troopers stand at the side of that line, angling to get into the frame. At half time, they scurry behind the coach.
Most important of all, though, Pratt said is being behind Franklin at the end of the game when he goes to midfield to shake hands with the opposing coach.
“That’s the money shot if you will,” Pratt said. “That’s the time where I need them to be because that’s where the cameras are. After that game concludes, they go back into the tunnel. Our job’s over.”
Throughout game day, if an incident were to occur requiring police involvement, he said the trooper’s assignment would change.
“Our job is still our job,” Pratt said. “I can’t allow for a crime to occur in my presence and not take some form of action, but that is not our primary role.”
Getting a response
People are starting to take notice of the troopers’ presence at the games.
Pratt said he’s heard comments from within the department, from retired troopers, athletes’ parents, and the public.
“They’re like – finally,” he said. “When you look at Alabama or a Tennessee or a USC and they’re like how come they always have a trooper with them but there’s never a trooper with our home team.”
While it started with Penn State, it might not stop there. Pratt has begun exploring similar partnerships with other universities, such as Temple University, which already had a partnership with the Philadelphia Police Department. Pratt said he is waiting to hear back from the University of Pittsburgh.
It’s too early to know how effective this recruitment approach will be, Pratt said. But this much he does know:
“The more visibility I can get, the better it helps us to get interest from folks who want to apply,” he said. “If it’s not yielding us benefits and fruits of labor, we will pivot and look at something else.”
People are starting to take notice of the troopers’ presence at the games.
Pratt said he’s heard comments from within the department, from retired troopers, athletes’ parents, and the public.
“They’re like – finally,” he said. “When you look at Alabama or a Tennessee or a USC and they’re like how come they always have a trooper with them but there’s never a trooper with our home team.”
While it started with Penn State, it might not stop there. Pratt has begun exploring similar partnerships with other universities, such as Temple University, which already had a partnership with the Philadelphia Police Department. Pratt said he is waiting to hear back from the University of Pittsburgh.
It’s too early to know how effective this recruitment approach will be, Pratt said. But this much he does know:
“The more visibility I can get, the better it helps us to get interest from folks who want to apply,” he said. “If it’s not yielding us benefits and fruits of labor, we will pivot and look at something else.”
"Three troopers and a corporal – all with some collegiate or professional athletic experience – are assigned to a detail funded with taxpayers’ money."
Outside of PA, these troopers have no jurisdiction. In fact, if they did get into altercations it could end up costing PA taxpayers quite a bit. Bear's Alabama State Highway Patrol escorts were only there to keep the thousands of fans at arms length, and they really had to be a protection squad (esp when Alabama trounced their opponents and everybody'd had a lot to drink).
I can't think of anyone wanting to touch the hem of Franklin's garment.
Outside of PA, these troopers have no jurisdiction. In fact, if they did get into altercations it could end up costing PA taxpayers quite a bit. Bear's Alabama State Highway Patrol escorts were only there to keep the thousands of fans at arms length, and they really had to be a protection squad (esp when Alabama trounced their opponents and everybody'd had a lot to drink).
I can't think of anyone wanting to touch the hem of Franklin's garment.
Retired PSP here. 1987-2009. Worked at PSP Lewistown my first 3 years, and did alot of traffic work similar to what you see now. Got to go to my parents motorhome tailgate a few times and visit and chow down quickly. I would have given my left nut to get an assignment like these guys are getting with the team. The best I could of hoped for was to get stationed on top of the press box, (Not sure if they're still up there). Finally....The Pennsylvania State Police is the first statewide law enforcement agency in the country, and you should be seeing them with team, which is face of THE Penn State University, our Commonwealth's Land Grant University.
They’re still up there. I always tell my wife….if we need that many snipers positioned above us, do we really want to be here?
They have and it’s always been sort of laughed at as you’d see Bowden or Saban or any other SEC coach surrounded by multiple state troopers and local police like they were POTUS on the field. Then it spread to other places around the country. It just seemed like such a waste of police time and resources.
I don’t ever recall hearing about a college coach being attacked requiring the need for state troopers to escort him from the sideline to the locker room but I guess it could have happened somewhere. It does ‘just mean more’ down there.
I find it ironic that Josh dropped the college degree requirements to become a trooper yet they are using the university as a platform. 