Like pretty much every other police department in the country, Bowie in Prince George’s County, Maryland, is hoping to hire more police officers to its force. But recruitment can be tricky.
Right now, the city’s department is about a dozen officers short of where it wants to be, and while some future prospects are working their way through the hiring process and police academies, the city is still looking to hire more.
That could be where you come in.
Departments around the region are all competing with one another for new and current officers, especially with the use of signing bonus that can run tens of thousands of dollars. But Bowie is offering bonuses to normal, everyday residents who refer new police officers to the city.
“What we do is offer $1,000 referral bonus to anyone,” said Bowie Police Chief Dwayne Preston. “So if you refer a qualified candidate to us that we ultimately hire, we will pay anyone $1,000 for that referral, because we want the community to be a participant in this process as well.”
For now, the city employs around 55 officers, but there are thousands of new homes being built; both the size of the city and its population are growing. Preston sees this as another chance to build ties between the city’s residents and the department, which is something the department has long emphasized.
“We want our residents to be particularly involved and provide qualified candidates, because these are going to be the very men and women that will be serving you and your community,” Preston said.
“We want people that are committed to the city,” he added. “There are police departments that offer many different incentives, but there are certain things that are inherent here in the city of Bowie that you can’t get anywhere else, and that is a huge community support. We have the time to really spend with our residents to be able to provide quality service and not running from call to call.”
The bonus program is on top of the more traditional marketing campaigns and job fairs used to hire new officers. That tends to be where most new hires originate from, but Preston said a handful of referral bonuses have been doled out to other members of the department who recommended working with them. So far, no civilian referrals have been doled out, though the program hasn’t been around very long either.
“We challenge our residents to send us qualified people so they can take advantage of that bonus,” Preston said.
To do that, whoever applies and later gets hired just needs to put you down as a referring person on their application. It’s offered whether you live in the city of Bowie or not, and the person applying doesn’t have to live in Bowie, or even anywhere in Maryland, either.
“We hope to celebrate someone in our community being the first,” he said. “So hopefully someone will take us up on that, because it is a very valuable and real program.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
