How We Built A Police Recruiting Engine That Actually Delivers

We share how transparent guarantees, mobile-first workflows, and automation turn interest into real applicants for law enforcement agencies. We outline new features from testing to video interviews, explain pricing built for any size department, and offer practical steps leaders can take today.

• new website with clear offers and pricing
• applicant guarantees tied to spend
• why vague marketing metrics fail recruiting
• Safeguard Connect overview and automation
• candidate nurturing via staged email and text
• mobile-first landing pages and higher completion
• affordable, transparent pricing for all sizes
• expanding into validated testing and video interviews
• one-stop pipeline with bulk and individual comms
• AI features in development
• mission focus and real-world ROI
• resources, webinars, and open help

Safeguard Recruiting is owned and operated by first responders, and it is a public safety recruiting firm with a proven recruiting system that staffs agencies across the country. 

Reach out today for a free consultation and learn about our guarantee that will increase the number of candidates for your agency. 

Transcript

Welcome Back And New Website

Travis Yates 0:00

Welcome back to the show. And it's been a couple of weeks without Doug Larson here. He's been jet setting across the country, speaking to clients and doing some training for some folks. Doug, have you enjoyed yourself? Are you glad to be back home?

Doug Larsen 0:13

Oh, always have a great time when we're out visiting people and learn about their processes and helping them out.

Travis Yates 0:18

I know you're jealous, man. I got the gear, right? I got the gear. I got the hat. I got the shirt. Um, I hate to tell you, man, I don't even know if you have a hat, but uh I I love it.

Doug Larsen 0:29

Yeah, it's looking good. And no, I do not have a hat yet. So I missed out on that.

Pricing Transparency And Guarantees

Travis Yates 0:34

Well, listen, as I mentioned last week, if you haven't checked out our new website, check it out, man. We're uh it's really gonna be conducive to our clients and our future clients, really easy to navigate. And if you look close, yeah, the logo's actually wrong. We kind of slimmed up our logo a little bit, but it's pretty slick. Uh we like it. It's we're gonna be able to bring you a lot of information on that. Gets right to the point, it makes things very clear on what we do because there's a whole host of companies out there that are kind of vague, Doug, and you're not sure what you're getting, but it was very important to you. I know that when they go to that website, they know exactly what they get and when they get it, do they not?

Doug Larsen 1:08

Exactly. We wanted to be really clear what what you get and what we offer and and what kind of results you're going to be looking at. So the teams worked hard on that website. We're proud of it. I think it looks good and it's very informative.

Travis Yates 1:19

Yeah, and one of the things that I think will shock people that nobody else will dare do is we kind of talk about our guarantee in there because we do guarantee uh candidates uh for the money spent. And we actually put it right there on the website, man. You see the number and uh you see the cost right there. And uh nobody else really does that. And you know, I'll tell you why they don't do that, and Doug, maybe you disagree, is is is the marketing world, of course, we're not marketers, we do marketing, but we're recruiting first. But the marketing world, they sort of that's how they keep business. They they say it's very vague, and they're gonna give you web hits, they're gonna maybe peak interest, give you some fancy stuff to look at to make you feel good. But when it comes down to what you actually get, which is names, candidates, applicants, they're gonna be very vague about that. And we've said this before. If you're talking to companies, we welcome we welcome that competition. When you talk to them, just ask them if I spend this much money, how many applicants can I expect? If it's a legitimate recruiting company, they're gonna be able to tell you, Doug, will they not?

Doug Larsen 2:16

Yeah, they they certainly will, and that's why we place it out there. We'll back up what we say with our guarantees, and we have approved processes, we will find people. There are a lot of people interested in law enforcement, and we are just here to add those little pieces to these departments to help them get over the top and get fully staffed.

Why Vague Marketing Fails Recruiting

Travis Yates 2:36

Yeah, and one thing that I love about working with you, Doug, is we're constantly adding features. And I mean, I could go all the way back to 2020, 2021 when we launched this thing, and uh and man, we've expanded so much, and just to sort of bring people up to speed is uh we went from and we're gonna bring you, we're gonna market and source candidates for you and applicants for you, and it would it would come into them through their emails or come into whatever uh you know software they were using. Then we found out from our clients, man, we don't have any software, we're using a whiteboard here, and I went from 10 10 applicants a month to 100, and I can't even keep up with it. So then we went out and we built Safeguard Connect. We built it specifically for law enforcement. In the

Building Safeguard Connect

Travis Yates 3:16

general world, they would they would call it an applicant tracking system. But man, it has proven far beyond what what our expectations were. Our clients love it, it's very easy to navigate, it automates everything, even the emails and the texts you want to send your client, your applicants or candidates, it automates that. And so, what it's been able to do is the recruiters can spend time on really building that personal relationship on the phone, meeting people, going to recruiting fairs or doing other things, other than constantly having to send emails and text out constantly. They can literally put those emails and texts in that system, however many they want, whatever cadence they want, and it's just is automated. And then as they as people move through the hiring process, maybe they're a candidate to an applicant to the background check or the test, those messages can change and give them those instructions. And we call that nurturing if you read any of our materials, but it's just communicating with those folks, and it's written in the in the recruiters' names, you know, in the system, you can see all these messages. And of course, we have a bunch of clients in the system, and we go in and we monitor, make sure everything's going fine. And it's always funny when I look in there and the the the candidate applicant, and they think they're talking directly to that recruiter because they can't tell, right? That it's just automated message because it doesn't read that way at all. And we go to painstakingly process to make sure those messages are written right, we have professional copywriters. So that was a huge component we added that's really enhanced. In fact, if somebody comes to us, Doug, and they go, you know, we got enough applicants, we just can't track them. We have seen when they just implement the software, they double or triple their applicants because it's so much more effective and smoother, and the communication is so much better. Is that uh is that what you're hearing from the kick the clients you're talking to, Doug?

Doug Larsen 4:53

Well, you're exactly right, because the more communication there, it it keeps the candidate engaged and keeps them going through

Automation And Candidate Nurturing

Doug Larsen 5:00

the process. But it not only does it it helps free up the recruiters so they can do more and connect is we've had departments say it saves me a whole week's worth of time, it saves me two weeks worth of time. Everybody's engaged, they're happy, they understand the process, and it's just a very, very powerful tool. And then the recruiters love the app too because they don't miss anything, they know exactly what's going on all the time. But the the key together that Connect and nurturing is huge for keeping engagement and keeping we we can bring in a lot of names, we can source a lot of names, but we don't want to overwhelm recruiters, we don't want to make them work harder, and that's where Kinect comes in is it just takes a lot of that burden from them.

Travis Yates 5:45

Yeah, we talked about this before, but man, keeping it mobile friendly. Uh, 85% of all all uh applicants today across all industries will only work off their phone, a mobile device, and Kinect keeps them there. I mean, everything from the interest to the application, I mean, it's just so smooth. We built an entire landing page for a client recently, and it

Mobile-First Workflows And Landing Pages

Travis Yates 6:05

just looks so good on the phone. It's built all in Connect and everything's right there because it was a pretty complicated when they sent us what the candidates needed or applicants needed, it's pretty complicated. Here's where the test is, here's how you prepare, here's this. I mean, it was a lot of emails they were using. We said, I know, let's build this into one page for them, nice and clean, and man, it just works. And they're very, very pleased with it, all built through Connect. And if we told them the price of this though, they wouldn't believe it. It's prices for what they get is unbelievable. And if you want to know those details, just go to safeguardrecruiting.com, as I said, new website right there. Just say, Hey, I want a quick demo, and man, we'll get on there, we'll tell you. But I can tell you right now, it's cheaper than any software you have. Because I both Doug and I worked in law enforcement, we saw the annual software license prices. I'm telling you right now, we made sure to build this to where every department in America could afford it, and what you get is pretty incredible. But we're going farther than that, not just digital advertising, not just Safeguard

Affordable Pricing And Quick Demos

Travis Yates 7:00

Connect. Uh, you know, we're doing some other things, Doug. Like we have in the works because we have some clients that have asked for can you do our tests for us? Can you do our backgrounds for us? Uh, can you help them prepare for the physical test? And so we're we're implementing those steps, and we're not ready to launch specifics about that, but uh, I know I know from the testing part it's gonna be validated, it's gonna be everything you expect. They hope they can take it online, it's always proctored, or we're gonna have hundreds of testing locations uh where they can actually go in and take it in person as well. And so I know from doing this at my agency, that was such a pain to schedule the test and to schedule this. We're gonna have uh ability to do the interviews automatically through video, those initial interviews. And so you

Expanding Into Testing And Interviews

Travis Yates 7:46

can really vet these candidates before you actually bring them in, uh, go through the steps. So it's all gonna be automated, it's gonna all be seamless through Safeguard Connect. And so not every client's gonna want to do that, but we're gonna have the ability to do that. And kind of what's your thoughts on that, Doug?

Doug Larsen 8:00

Yeah, we're we're trying to have solutions for every piece of the puzzle for our our clients, and we want to make it as easy as possible because they we're we're gonna source a lot of names for you, and we want you to be able to plug them into our solution and get the end answer and not have to look anywhere else and not have to go dig up you know other vendors or other contracts. It's it's just one stop, we'll be able to handle it all, and we'll be able to keep all the information in connect so it's so easy for you to go in, not only look at where somebody's in the process, but communicate individually or bulk

One-Stop Pipeline And Bulk Comms

Doug Larsen 8:33

with those groups on what they need to do next.

Travis Yates 8:36

And I know we're testing out some AI products as we speak, that's going to be coming down the road. And man, listen, uh, just so you know, and just so you're clear, I know many people of you listening or watching this right now. I mean, you're you're you you any day with other companies and all the marketing companies and all the video companies. There's a reason why we're so passionate about this. Doug

AI On The Horizon And Mission

Travis Yates 8:56

and I uh collectively spent over 50 years in this profession. Uh, we understand how important it is to be able to staff up, we understand what it's doing to the overtime budgets by filling those gaps. And so we wanted to make sure that every agency in this country has the ability to get access to these tools. And I would put our cost and price not only against what your employees are costing, but what any of their company is doing, and we're going to give you results. What I what I'm most proud of, Doug, is when we onboard clients, one-year contract or six-month trial, they're all re-upping. They all see the value, they all want to continue down that path, and we really see a way to where we can have placed a prominent role in making sure communities are safe.

Doug Larsen 9:36

That's exactly right. We we've we may have retired from the profession, but we've never left the profession. We have relatives still working in, we have family members that they're there, we have friends and just past colleagues. And uh we're just not gonna walk away from it. We're gonna offer solutions that are gonna work, and they are working, and we're really proud of it. And we uh any size department should talk to

Helping Any Size Department

Doug Larsen 10:00

us, we'll come with a solution for you.

Travis Yates 10:02

Yeah, I mean, if you're a department of 30 and you're down five, that's just as significant as NYPD down to down at down 5,000. I mean, it's it you're it's impacting you, and and and it's not that difficult to do it, it's just a matter of putting the right pieces in play. I'm telling you right now, I've been here, I've been on the calls. This happens. If you call up Doug Larson and a department goes, man, I don't have much. This is what I got, he's gonna help you. And I'll tell you right now, if you have, I'm just gonna say this, Doug, whether you agree or not, if you're using a product right now and it's not working, you call us up and we're gonna give you connect, we're gonna give you a trial period to see how awesome it is, and I guarantee you you're gonna keep it because the price and the return on investment is incredible. So if you're questioning or wavering at all, don't worry about going to get permission, don't worry about to go to get a contract. You won't even need a contract for this, by the way. It's so cheap. Just call us up and say, Man, I really need help. I don't have any money. We're gonna put you on that thing and you're gonna find out how valuable it is, and you're gonna end up with it forever because I think it's a game changer.

Trials, ROI, And Replacing Legacy Tools

Travis Yates 11:03

That quite honestly, I couldn't believe it wasn't already done. I know when we were out there when we were having this problem, we said, Well, surely somebody's done this. We could just partner with somebody and do this. Nope. Not only has it not been done, but uh people are using these sort of old HR out-of-the-box products that were kind of built for not law enforcement, built for some other industry. But that's why I'm so proud of it. I think Connect was sort of the launching pad, Doug, for us to realize, man, there's a lot more we could do to help out law enforcement.

Doug Larsen 11:30

Yeah, we definitely from when you brought it up before, where we started in 2021 and how we've grown and added all the features and they all interconnect, and there's a reason why they're there. And it's just to make sure the end results are maximized and they're done as as efficiently and effectively as possible. And I love the direction we're going, uh, how we're helping a number of departments, big and small. And it's just a lot of fun to still stay connected in the law enforcement community.

Travis Yates 11:58

Yeah, it's it's very satisfying to see a problem, correct a problem, and be a solution for a problem. That's sort of what law enforcement does anyway. But you know, I can speak personally, I don't have the constraints of some

Growth Since 2021 And Integrated Features

Travis Yates 12:10

boss telling me that I can't fix the problem. You and I could just get together and fix the problem. That's been really enjoyable for me. Of course, Doug and I, if you don't know, we've known each other for 20 years and uh in the training environment. And so uh it's just been fun to be able to do that, uh, to be able to do it where everybody can have access to it. Everybody sitting here listening can think of a product. I'll just throw one out there in a big shooting simulator, right? Who's got a half million dollars or quarter million dollars? You may love it, you may, but not everybody has access to it. And we were we knew those issues going into this, Doug, and we have always been cognizant to make sure that there is an offering for every single agency. And I'll just give you a quick secret: the smallest agencies out there are on connected around 279 bucks a month. Literally, it's cheaper than car payments right now for an agency to afford. Now, we don't have a lot of those because most agencies are larger or middle-sized

Purpose, Access, And Low-Cost Options

Travis Yates 12:58

agencies, but I mean, when you're a really small agency and you don't need it for that much, I mean, we we are we are just cutting down to no profit pretty for the most part to make sure people have this help. And I've been on the phone when people have said, I'm gonna just break this out, Doug. I'm not sure if you can do it, can do it now. All I got's fifteen hundred dollars a month, but I need people. And I've heard this man right here to my right, maybe your left, said, We're gonna help you. Uh, and so that's what it's really about. Yeah, we're a business. Yeah, we we we have to we have to make money because that's how we're operating, but it's not your typical business. There's a lot of heart and soul in this, a lot of passion in this. I hope it comes through in this in this show when you're watching it. Uh, Doug, I'll give you the last word, man. But uh, I can tell you for me, I'm excited about the future and I'm excited about what's to come. And I want those of you listening and watching to just have hope because I don't care what the problem is when it comes to your staffing, we have the solution.

Doug Larsen 13:54

Yeah, I love the direction we're going and dealing with our clients. It's it's been a lot of fun, and we want to just keep growing this. And I'd love to talk to anybody that has need or just wants to bounce out off some ideas of what they're doing or where maybe where their

Hope, Outreach, And Free Resources

Doug Larsen 14:08

pain points are. And maybe we have a solution, or maybe we can just talk you through some changes you need to make. Um, just reach out to us.

Travis Yates 14:14

Yeah, and if you just now stumbled upon this video, we've done almost a year's worth of these videos, and there's some content that you're going to love. We did a webinar series just a couple months ago that are in order. You'll see those on our podcast page. But man, it's going to give you a lot of the secrets you can just implement. So even if even if you don't want to come to us, we're trying to give you information each and every week to help you staff up full because we know at the end of the day, you will trust us for anything in the future when we won't you tell you is accurate. And so uh just contact us, even if you just want to have a conversation about what you're doing and what you're doing is right or wrong. I mean, we just had a client a few weeks ago that we've been talking to for almost a year, Doug, that said, Man, we love to have you, but quite frankly, we listened to some of your stuff and things got a little better, so we're gonna hold off right now, and that's fine. That's why we do this. You don't have to give us money, we're gonna give you help regardless. So uh if you've been watching and you've been listening, man, we're very grateful. Keep your head up and keep your faith. Uh, we're gonna staff up tool for you, and you're gonna do it yourself, and we'll see you next time.