Clearwater police use sand sculptures to recruit new officers at Sugar Sand Festival

Sugar Sand Festival helps with police recruiting

The Clearwater Police Department is using the beach and its Sugar Sand Festival to market the agency, and the area. FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Amid a nationwide struggle to fill law enforcement vacancies, the Clearwater Police Department is using an interesting recruiting strategy: the sand itself.

What we know:

Visitors to the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival Presented by Visit St. Pete Clearwater on Clearwater Beach are greeted by two massive works of art when they walk in: a Clearwater police badge and a Clearwater Fire and Rescue beach lifeguard badge. The message "Join the Team" is sculpted in the sand between them.

"Here with the Sugar Sand Festival, we have a beautiful sculpture of our badge with Join the Team," Cpl. Lauren Josey-Filer, corporal of recruitment, said. "We’re just trying to come up with new, innovative concepts to recruit folks and just, organic ways in which people can come in contact with us and hear about the department."

By the numbers:

Josey-Filer said the agency currently has about 20 openings.

"We are just naturally having a lot of folks retire," Josey-Filer said. "It's just kind of like that coming of age for our agency. Unfortunately, I'm not sure why, but people just aren't interested in being in law enforcement, not as much as they were in the past."

What they're saying:

By placing the recruitment pitch at the festival, the agency is ensuring the message is front and center. 

"Even if it's not that individual who is necessarily interested in applying, but it's a family member, a grandparent, a parent that can let somebody know that we're hiring, that's all we can hope for," Josey-Filer said.

Big picture view:

The sand-based strategy is part of a wider recruitment effort. The department also ran recruitment videos during every Philadelphia Phillies home spring training game in Clearwater.

The initiative isn't just for police. Clearwater Fire and Rescue is also seeking more beach lifeguards to patrol the area, which was recently voted the top beach in Florida.

"Services like the police department and the lifeguards are vital to the success of Clearwater Beach," Lisa Chandler, founder of the Sugar Sand Festival, said.

Dig deeper:

To sweeten the deal for those living outside the Sunshine State, the department is offering hiring bonuses of up to $6,000 for potential officers relocating to Florida.