Surprise, AZ News blog

Roughly 10 percent of its positions are vacant and must be filled.

The police force’s full complement is 127 officers; as of this month, it has 114 sworn officers, police spokesman Randy Rody said

Rody said Surprise has “adequate police coverage at this time” but “could utilize additional police personnel.”

The City Council recently approved the hiring of an additional eight police officers.

The Surprise Police Department is among the three top-paying agencies in the Valley. Cadets are paid $45,000. Once they graduate, their salary goes up to almost $51,000, Rody said.

Rody said there are now six cadets in training who will graduate in December.

So far this year, the police department has hired six lateral officers who came from Pennsylvania, New York, Kansas and Wisconsin.

The agency offers as an incentive for lateral transfers a 5 to 10 percent increase from the regular starting salary, depending on how long the candidate has served as an officer, Rody said.

Rody said Surprise is a good place for new officers to begin their careers because there are more opportunities for advancement amid rapid growth in the city and the department.

“We’re a young, growing community, we’re bringing in a lot of people,” Rody said. “With growth, there’s always opportunity.”

The department tests applicants monthly and accepts applications online. Testing dates, salary and benefits can be accessed online at agency.governmentjobs.com/surprise/ default.cfm.

“The Surprise Police Department is one of the top-paying cities in the state with great benefits for the employees, and provides a great working environment for all employees both sworn and civilian,” Rody said.

Regardless, the BBB continued to claim this week that several of the company’s marketing tactics are reminiscent of past travel scams and warned all consumers to beware and issued the reminder: “If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

Recent Missouri transplant James Harris owns Show Me Destinations, a company that is a registered LLC in Missouri but operating out of Surprise
Harris said he sells a software program that allows travelers to book hotels, condos, plane tickets and other accommodations at a discount. The company sends out postcards in mass mailings, which claim that the recipient has been awarded two free plane tickets to anywhere in the United States. The card also reads that if the recipient calls today they get $100 in free gas. The recipient must attend one of Harris’s seminars in order to claim the tickets. Harris said the recipient gets the tickets regardless of whether or not they purchase the software.

Last week the Better Business Bureau investigated the company after several of people in Cochise and Pima Counties phoned in and asked if the cards were legit.

BBB spokesperson Kim States said she attempted to contact Show Me Destinations and received a voice recording-the first sign that the promotion might be a scam. Also, the mailings were branded with a Southwest Airlines logo, however when questioned about the promotion airline personnel had no idea what the offer was, according to the BBB.

Southwest Airlines did not return phone calls Wednesday to help determine if their logo was used with or without permission.

Also, the company’s address on the mailings was listed as a PO Box in Surprise.

“That’s always another red flag for us at the BBB, when the company is not listing a brick and mortar location,” States said.

Last week the BBB issued a release alerting consumers to the possible scam.

Harris argued that his family recently moved to Surprise in September after forming the company in May and that things may have been hectic while settling in after the move.

“We drop about 10,000 of those mailings at a time and had only three people answering the phone,” Harris said.

Harris also claimed that he was never contacted by anyone at the BBB and said that if someone had called, they didn’t leave a message. He accused the BBB of slandering the company’s name before they had a chance to get off the ground in Arizona.

Harris added that he paid for a PO Box because he had not yet purchased a home, let alone a storefront in Surprise at the time of the company’s formation. He said the PO Box would save him the trouble of future address changes.

Right now the company’s call center is based out of Harris’s new home.

“After the first of the year if this BBB thing doesn’t kill me we should have a hard office in Surprise,” Harris said.

However, States said the company’s promotion sounds like an old travel scam with a new twist. She said old scams used to advertise a freebie and then lure consumers into buying an expensive travel discount card, which usually turned out to be fake. In this case, she said consumers are lured into buying the software. Though, States said she could not confirm that the software is fraudulent. She added that there currently are no BBB complaints against Show Me Destinations in Arizona. But, she does warn consumers to be wary of blackout dates or charges associated with the airline tickets advertised in the company’s postcard promotion.

Prior to forming “Show Me Destinations” Harris said he worked with different timeshare companies and travel clubs. He said that he could not be blamed for questionable mailings or any misuse of the Southwest Airlines logo because it was a third party marketing agency, not his company, that assembled the postcards.

“All of this started because of a silly little postcard. Really, it’s nothing more than a marketing campaign,” Harris said.