Bradenton police officers 'crash' Chicago Law Enforcement expo to recruit new officers

BRADENTON, Fla. - Two officers from the Bradenton Police Department took a road trip to Chicago last week to recruit officers as part of Governor Ron DeSantis' $5,000 Law Enforcement signing bonus initiative. 

Since its inception in the summer of 2022, it has successfully issued 3,350 bonuses to out-of-state recruitments. One of those recruits was BPD Officer Kevin Williams, who came from New York. 

Officer Williams worked for NYPD and volunteered as a firefighter. 

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Last week, Officer Williams and Officer Jordan Poulos took a road trip to "crash" the Chicago Law Enforcement Hiring Expo last Friday to represent BPD. 

"More people were shocked than anything. They weren’t expecting Florida to be there. But I think we made a really good showing. It picked up a lot of buzz," said Officer Poulos.

Officer Poulos said the idea behind the trip stems from Governor Ron DeSantis' support of House Bill 3, which includes the Florida Law Enforcement Recruitment Payment program. 

"A couple weeks back, we had heard that the governor did a bit of recruiting in Chicago with a couple billboards that he had placed up there about House Bill 3 and recruitment," he said.

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Officer Poulos said another selling point besides the sunshine was why officers shouldn't stay in Chicago. 

"The new SAFE-T act that just started last month with cashless bail. The first cashless bail state in the country. Depending on the crime, most of them you get released. So you don’t go to jail for it," he said.

"So coming from up there to coming down here it’s just much more law enforcement-friendly and pro-police climate down here."

Since the trip, BPD has received at least four applications.