Buffalo Police aiming to bring more women on board

BUFFALO, NY — The Buffalo Police Department continues its recruitment campaign with a big emphasis on attracting more women to the city police force.

“If you’re looking for change. If you’re looking to help people. If you’re looking for something different, where you get to learn something new every single day – absolutely do this job,” declared J. Neal, Buffalo police officer.

And Officer Neal has been on the job now for about a year and a half. After working at past office mobs, even as a bartender, she wanted something different, so she went on a ride along with who are officers. That’s what sold her.

Sherry Burns

“And I thoroughly enjoyed the overnight shift that I rode along with them in. Seeing what they did. The ins and outs of each call and how you clear it and do reports and interaction with everybody – it was incredible. There were no two calls were exactly the same,” Neal described.

Officer Neal is one of 156 female officers with the BPD and the department is hoping to draw in even more. Captain Amber Beyer started as an officer 11-years ago.

“We’re trying to diversity the department and I think there are lots of benefits for that – for having all different races and genders in order to be able to engage with the community better,” Beyers explained.

“It’s always been my dream job since I was little,” remarked Anniah Samuel, who applied for the police exam.

About 50 recruits appeared for an information session at East High School Monday in Buffalo. Samuel was among them. She works as an LPN now but wants to do more to help the community.

“I love doing stuff for the community – helping other people – definitely one of my big jobs, me being an LPN, but just anything to support the community and I think it would be a good career for me and to support my son,” Samuel said.

Joining the department is competitive. There will be only 30-positions for this year’s recruitment class. Pay starts at $47,000. You must be between 19 and 34 and live in the city of Buffalo. The next city police exam is 29^th. The deadline to apply is May 22.

The BPD will be holding two more informational sessions this week at East High School, 820 Northhampton Street, Wednesday, April 3^rd and Thursday, April 4^th, both from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.