When, occasionally, we come across the question of why potential recruits are turning their backs on a career in the police force, it does not take much to come up with a number of key steps to improve police recruitment and, more importantly, retention.
A police recruit has the duty to undergo training to become an entry-level police officer and must graduate from the police academy before moving on to work as an officer on a probationary basis. Every police executive looks for a recruit who has the right blend of skill sets, such as level-headedness, superior communication abilities, and an internal drive for public service. The problem is that these skill sets are desirable and highly sought after in every organisation, public or private.
We have long known that the Corps has been struggling to recruit and engage police officers. The difficulty with recruitment is a significant problem that is broadly affecting the field of law enforcement-it is not simply a result of poor management or localised failures. There is a worker shortage, not a shortage of work.
As vacancy numbers increase due to the inability to fill positions and as more officers continue to become eligible for retirement, existing officers are becoming overworked and burned out. At a time when the importance of officer mental wellness is more widely recognised, powerful efforts to recruit, hire, and retain officers have become increasingly important.
The Corps needs to thoughtfully amend recruitment practices without lowering the standards for officers that their peers and communities have come to expect. The law enforcement applicant pool is small and competitive, so it is no surprise that police leaders list recruitment and retention as the top challenges they face today.
Every time the police recruitment pool dwindles into a puddle, there is a tendency to lower standards to try to increase the size of the pool, but there is a price to pay for that downstream. To compensate for this, the Corps should consider making everyone a recruiter.
While officers are on duty, as part of their job, they need to recruit. They meet great people every day. If an elderly woman has her house burglarised and her 20-year-old grandson is helping her on the scene, he is a potential recruit. If officers could find one good woman or man in their career, it would help the Corps keep up with attrition.
It is no secret that the Corps does not necessarily assign its brightest and best officers to serve as recruitment officers. You need someone with both good communication and customer service skills who can walk candidates through what is often an overwhelmingly rigorous selection process.
Why not consider giving potential recruits a preliminary job offer to keep them around while the background investigation is concluded? Regular contact with people is essential.
Recruitment should be done where good candidates hang out. While you may find potential candidates at job fairs, the next generation of police officers can be found in many different places. Secondary schools are filled with great candidates; colleges are filled with great candidates; and volunteer organisations are filled with great candidates. In addition, a candidate's life experience should be considered.
One should consider breaking down unnecessary barriers to recruitment such as residency and education requirements, background checks, physical standards, or training and academy requirements that might exclude potential recruits. Unnecessary and outdated ones should be removed, and ways to help otherwise solid candidates overcome them should be considered.
Recruitment is closely tied to retention. Once you attract the right people, you need strategies in place to keep them. This means asking candidates, "Do you really know what you are getting into?" People need to understand that law enforcement is much different from what they see on TV or in the movies. What is being done to build employee trust and pride in the Corps? What options do personnel have in the Corps to advance or do something different?
If recruits think they are always going to be on patrol or working in a single department, they may choose to move on. Developing levels within positions where you can keep people, increase their pay, and keep their skills and abilities up-to-date should be considered.
One must experiment with innovative leave policies too. Offering unlimited sick leave not only supports officers when unavoidable illness befalls them or their family members but also sets a standard for a culture where officer wellness comes first. If unlimited sick leave is not an option, having an official or unofficial policy of being understanding and accommodating when granting officer leave requests can be attractive to potential recruits.
It is important to have a list of ideal applicant attributes and then make sure recruiting and testing selection procedures are compatible with those attributes for ideal applicants. It is imperative to revamp the recruitment process, especially the interview panel, to test for empathy, honesty, integrity, resilience and decision-making-character traits I believe are best for the community the Police Corps serves.
In law enforcement, so many things can-and regularly do-go wrong, and yet police officers press on in their mission to serve and protect. Cases get tossed, criminals walk free, victims are re-victimised, and yet every day, police set out on the streets in a constant effort to keep their communities safe.
Rarely are they thanked for their efforts. They seek neither thanks nor praise, but the feeling of achievement from a job.
Dr Mark Said is a lawyer