Don't Wendy's Your Police Recruiting!

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If you’ve been scrolling police department social media lately and thought, “Wow…that sounds more like a fast-food Twitter account than a law enforcement agency,” you’re not alone. 🫤

Lately, some agencies are leaning hard into sarcasm, sassy comments, and sometimes even roasting people, all with the idea of getting tons of likes, shares, and comments because of it. In some places…it’s actually working. 🤯

But before you copy that style for your police recruitment efforts, you need to hear my explanation of why all of that is a bad thing...keep reading! 👀

Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, we’re talking about a trend I’ve been seeing more and more of, in particular from agencies down south in North Carolina and Georgia. ⬇️

Much like Wendy’s who is world famous for their brand of humor, sarcasm, and clapback’s on social media, these departments are using their agency main pages to practice the same and it’s doing wonders with the public, stirring up quite the buzz, and creating a viral effect on their engagement numbers.   That’s a really good thing for them because main agency pages are all about reaching as many people as you possibly can and showing them how awesome your agency is. 🙌

But, before you decide to go full Wendy’s on your police recruiting social media page let me caution you…while yes, doing this likely will garner a lot attention…it will quietly sabotage your ability to attract the right applicants in the future. 😳

Here are three reasons why sarcastic, sassy, and viral posting will hurt your police recruitment way more than it will help it…

1. You build the wrong audience

This is a big one and we’re gonna tackle it right off the bat.  When you lean into roast-style humor and viral sarcasm, you attract people who are there for entertainment, not employment. Translation = they follow you for the jokes. 🃏

Sure, they’ll give you a like, tag their friends, and wait for the next clapback masterpiece. That all sounds great and the attention feels good in the short term, but unfortunately, it doesn’t translate into applicants over the long haul. 🤷‍♂️

Recruiting on social media works when your audience is made up of people who are both interested and, through your posting, can actually start seeing themselves working for your agency. When your content becomes an entertainment hub, the people who stick around are there for the show, not your badge.  The result: you end up with a loud audience and a quiet applicant pool. 😕

Keep your recruiting pages focused on attracting future applicants, not chasing vanity metrics like likes, shares, and comments. Personality and plain talk are great, I encourage you do both…but it should support clarity, culture, and possibilities, not overshadow them. 🎯

2. Constant humor puts people in the wrong mindset

Listen, humor is powerful, but it also changes how people process information. When someone is laughing with each and every one of your posts, they’re in an entertainment mindset, not a decision-making one. They’re scrolling for fun, not evaluating whether a career in law enforcement and one, more specifically, with your agency is right for them. 🤳

Police recruiting focuses on getting people to consider a life-changing decision. That requires trust, seriousness, and painting a picture that allows people to see themselves in the role. If your content trains people to see your page as a place for jokes and roasts, they’re far less likely to switch gears and take your hiring posts seriously if/when they ever get to see them. 📉

Again, this doesn’t mean you can’t be human or lighthearted. It means humor should support relatability, not replace credibility. There’s a big difference between being approachable and being a punchline. 😎

3. It blurs the line between community engagement and police recruiting

Remember…your main agency page and your recruiting page have two completely different jobs. The main page builds goodwill with the entire community. Recruiting pages build relationships with future employees. When you copy a viral, roast-heavy style and throw that into your recruiting mix, you blur that line and confuse your message. 🫨

Look, applicants are looking for clarity. They want to understand your culture, your expectations, and what it feels like to work there. If your recruiting presence feels like a comedy account one day and a hiring page the next, it creates uncertainty. And uncertainty makes people hesitate. 😒

Agencies that win with recruiting understand that tone matters. You can be friendly. You can be relatable. But you also need to be consistent and intentional, so potential applicants can figure out if you’re right for them. 👯

Now, in case the message here was met with mixed signals…let me be very clear about something. I am not saying those unconventional posts are wrong for a main department page. If they’re building community goodwill, showing personality, and making your agency more approachable to the public, that’s a huge win. 🏆️

But recruiting is different. Police recruiting is not about going viral. It’s about being understood. It’s about helping the right people see themselves at your agency and giving them the confidence to take that next step. 💪

Police recruiting will never be about who gets the most likes. It’s forever been about who builds the most trust. 💯

So, before you start thinking all of those likes, comments and shares from people all over the world sure would be nice, ask yourself one simple question. Is this post helping the right person determine if my agency is the place for them, or is it just entertaining the internet? 🤔

If you need help building a recruiting presence that attracts applicants instead of applause, that’s exactly what I teach inside my Road to Better Recruiting online training course. It’s designed to help you communicate with purpose, build trust early, and guide the right kind of applicants into your process. 🧲

Check it out right now on my website by visiting forcopstraining.com/rtbr and start recruiting like it’s 2026. 🚀

Know someone who’s about to ‘Wendy’s’ their police recruiting page? Share this newsletter with them so they can learn too. 🤝

Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. 🙏

Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃

Tom

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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.

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