Brooklyn Park Police Plan to Recruit More Women, Add Drones
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley wants to recruit more women into the police department ranks, as well as develop a drone program, he told the Brooklyn Park City Council on May 8.
Bruley, who was appointed to the department’s top spot in August 2022, said that the department’s cadet program is successfully recruiting a more racially diverse pool of candidates than in the past.
“Just short of 21 percent of our staff in 2022 were racially diverse, and if you look at the left, our cadets, which means our future police officers that are working in our organization, about 88 percent of them are racially diverse,” Bruley said. “There’s better days ahead for sure on diversifying the police department.”
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley, shown here speaking at a press conference, said the police department aims to hire more women in the near future.
However, the standard police candidate pool has largely consisted of men, Bruley said.
As a result, the Brooklyn Park Police Department is making efforts to increase its gender diversity, with the goal of having at least 30 percent of the force be female by 2030. The department is referring to this effort as the “30 by 30 pledge.”
Currently, about 13 percent of the department’s officers are women. Another 36 percent of the city’s police cadets are women.
“I don’t believe that we’ve done a very good job of recruiting women in law enforcement,” Bruley said. “Women are clearly non-traditional candidates. They don’t seek law enforcement out like men do, but they make fantastic police officers and the data would show that.”
The department needs to be a welcoming place for women, he said.
“One of our commanders is a female commander who is an amazing leader — that’s a big deal,” Bruley said. “We’ve had female candidates tell us that.”
Brooklyn Park has also participated in a larger effort to recruit young women called Wonder Women.
Drones and Public Data
The Brooklyn Park Police Department is looking to implement a drone or unmanned aerial-vehicle program.
Police could use the small aircraft to search for victims or suspects and otherwise assist in investigations.
“It’s a tool that is very advantageous for us to serve this community better,” according to Bruley.
The city is expecting to host a public comment session on the issue in a future council meeting, Bruley said.
The Robbinsdale Police Department recently implemented a police drone program.
Residents can comment on the drone policy in-person at the May 22 Brooklyn Park City Council meeting or by email at bppolice@brooklynpark.org.
The Brooklyn Park Police Department is planning to build a drone program.
Brooklyn Park is also developing a web-based dashboard with extensive public data from the police department.
“We’re going to be releasing anything that we can release [to the public], it’s something that I believe at the core, that transparency leads to trust.”
The dashboard should be functional by the end of the year.
“There’s no colonel’s secret, we don’t work for KFC, we’re not hiding anything,” Bruley said.
Data ranging from officer complaints to traffic stops, arrests and use of force will be available through the portal.
