With Riley Smoot Jr. about to assume the leadership of Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Department, Farrell Councilman Louis Falconi hopes Smoot will be able to do something officials have been largely unable to do: attract blacks to become members of the department.

Falconi asked Smoot on Monday to recruit blacks.

"You now, in your position and your image, I don't think there would be anything wrong with you trying to recruit young people," Falconi said. "With you sitting there as chief, you might be able to spark an interest in that."

The police commission has tried to recruit blacks by opening up testing for part-time positions to people who do not have police training and soliciting test takers from outside Mercer County.

The department typically promotes part-timers to full-time positions.

Falconi, a Farrell High School teacher and football and track coach, said he has encouraged young people to think about police work as a career.

While the department has had a number of minority officers over the years, Smoot is the only black member of the force.

Smoot is not the first black to lead a police department that serves Farrell. Luke Gillespie was chief of the Farrell Police Department in the early 1970s.