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Police chief cites recruitment gains and rising community engagement in 2025 annual report
Summary
Chief Damian Nord told council the department filled dozens of positions after a video‑led recruitment push, growing sworn staff toward 61 officers and reporting increases in proactive contacts and community events in 2025.
Police Chief Damian Nord presented the Paso Robles Police Department’s 2025 annual update on April 21, telling the City Council the department made notable staffing and training strides amid a nationwide recruitment challenge.
"Since pushing the videos through 2025, we have hired 25 new recruits and six lateral officers from other agencies," Nord said of a social‑media recruitment campaign that produced more than a million impressions and hundreds of applicant contacts. He said the department expects six recruits to graduate from the academy in June and reach 61 sworn officers on successful completion of training.
Nord described department priorities that have accompanied staffing growth: a mission and values framework for officers, expanded in‑house instructor capacity so the department can host training locally, Brazilian jiu‑jitsu training for use‑of‑force control, and increased proactive enforcement, which he said produced nearly 27,000 officer‑initiated encounters in 2025 compared with about 18,000 the previous year.
Council members praised the department’s community engagement — coffee‑with‑a‑cop events, youth programs such as Junior Giants and Santa’s Sleigh, and a Community Action Team working on riverbed encampments — while public comment included both praise for the chief’s leadership and requests for continued progress on homeless‑related calls and business area concerns.
Chief Nord credited teamwork across departments and volunteers for the department’s outreach, and thanked HR for processing new recruits quickly. The council did not take formal action on the report; members received the update and asked staff to continue quarterly and annual reporting.
Key figures cited in the presentation: 25 new recruits and six lateral hires since the recruitment campaign, nearly 27,000 officer‑initiated contacts in 2025 and more than 2,300 arrests; records division processed over 5,200 reports. Nord emphasized the department’s goal of community‑oriented policing and continued training investment.
