Recruitment | Assessment Services Review

Law Enforcement Agencies Nationwide Respond to Crisis-level Hiring Shortage

This article originally appeared in IPMA-HR’s monthly magazine, HR News.

It seems you can’t open a newspaper or turn on the news without hearing a story about the hiring crisis in law enforcement. There’s no way around it: departments nationwide – from large metropolitan areas to small town America – are embroiled in a crisis-level hiring shortage.

The reasons for it are many, and none of them easily surmountable. It starts with large numbers of baby boomers retiring and a robust economy – officers who leave before retirement are often moving to the private sector for better pay, better hours and less stress.

The thriving economy also provides much more opportunity for those entering the workforce. And, given a choice between a job known for its high-stress, low-pay and nontraditional work hours, a 9-5, Monday-Friday in the private sector seems the obvious choice for many.

Then there’s the undeniable sullied image of the profession. Where once choosing a career in law enforcement was akin to that of superhero, now a solid percentage (34 percent, according to Pew Research Center) of the public hold a neutral or negative view of the badge and the people behind it. Among minorities, the number trends much higher.

The Millennial generation is also of a different mindset than any previous generation. They place a much higher value on work-life balance, need greater variety in their work assignments, and aren’t as patient with the lengthy hiring process: “… for some Millennials, there’s an expectation for immediate gratification: instant replies, constant communication. It’s labor intensive for my command staff,” said Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce.

“Today’s recruits are more interested in a work-life balance; they want time off,” said former Deputy Chief John Haas of the Arlington County Police Department. “The four-day workweek is very popular. Departments are going to have to adapt to the Millennial way of thinking and values. This is a different generation.”

And, while the job has always been dangerous, wearing the uniform today carries with it greater risk than in times past. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there were 135 officers killed in the line of duty in 2016, twenty-one of which were the result of ambush-style attacks – such as the five Dallas police officers who were assassinated – the highest it’s been in over 20 years. If the trend for 2018 continues, the number of officers killed in the line of duty will increase by 13 percent, with 146 officers lost.

Departments are doing their best to maintain the safety of their communities despite the shortage; however, the fact is: open positions create gaps in patrol, leading to slower response times – and less safe communities. Quite simply, the lack of qualified applicants has left departments from coast to coast desperately searching for new and creative ways to recruit – and retain – good officers.

Addressing the issue in the short-term

There are a number of ways in which departments are seeking to address the issue in the short-term:

Traveling and/or advertising far outside their typical recruitment area. Baltimore Police Department went to Puerto Rico to recruit bilingual officers, Scottsdale put up advertisements in the men’s restrooms of Fenway Park in Boston, Aurora (Colo.) sent its recruitment team to Dallas for the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization conference, and San Jose received over 150 applications from New Yorkers after attending a job fair in New York City.
Lowering requirements. Many departments are considering – or have already – relaxed the rules regarding past use of marijuana. Additionally, Chicago cut the minimum age requirement for its police academy from 25 to 21, and several departments have lowered their educational requirements for recruits.
Increasing pay and benefits. Phoenix Police Department is offering lifetime medical benefits; Tempe offers hefty starting salaries; some departments offer matching vacation or sick time new hires accrued at their former position; Durham is offering a $5,000 bonus for new and lateral officers; and, in September 2017, Palo Alto instituted a $25,000 bonus to officers transferring from another department.
Referral rewards. Salt Lake City and San Jose Police Departments are both offering bonuses to employees who refer an experienced officer to them – awarding anywhere from $600 to $6,500 per referral.
Mentoring applicants through the process. Another increasingly utilized method is the assignment of a mentor to help applicants through the process, which typically includes paperwork, computerized tests, criminal background checks, psychological exams and polygraphs. San Jose Police Department employs this tactic, assigning mentors to coach applicants through the process.
Modern and creative communication tactics. Fort Worth Police Department received quite a bit of attention for its “Star Wars” series of recruitment videos posted on YouTube, Philadelphia created an entire website devoted to recruitment; and departments everywhere are producing videos – some professional and informative and some reminiscent of the armed forces’ style recruitment videos where your average workday looks like an action movie.

Small agencies struggling to keep up turn to each other

Small, rural agencies simply can’t compete with the larger agencies in terms of budget or opportunity for advancement or variety of duties (e.g., tactical team, drug task force). In a small department, the loss of even one officer can deal a serious blow. Take Searsport, Maine, where the department is staffed by just three officers: Call the department, and there’s a good chance Chief Dick LaHaye will answer the phone.

In response to the hiring crisis, more small, rural agencies are looking into a merger with surrounding towns. For example, in New York, Spring Valley Police Department is looking into merging with neighboring Clarkstown and Ramapo, and in Maine, a voter referendum question is under review that could result in the merger of the Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor departments.

Other cities contract with neighboring towns or the county. This is the case in Lanesboro and Fountain, Minnesota, where city officials have a contract with the Preston Police Department for law enforcement.

A failsafe, short-term solution doesn’t exist

Departments nationwide are trying everything they can think of to get qualified applicants in the door who truly desire to be in law enforcement. But, try as they may, a failsafe, short-term solution doesn’t exist, according to Haas.

“They have to do more than hang a ‘help wanted’ sign,” said Haas. “It’s going to take time, thinking differently and investing in people early on, especially teens and college students. The agencies that are seeing the most success in hiring are those that have Explorer programs, that have programs and training on college campuses. They get people hooked on the profession early on.”

Programs such as Haas suggested are cropping up in forward-looking departments all across the country.

Fairfax County Police Department (Va.) has three Explorer Posts, a Teen Academy, Police Cadet program (ages 18-20), and participates in the Road Dawg Camp for “middle school youth who are at risk of substance abuse or gang involvement.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (N.C.) offers an Explorers program, College Cadets program (ages 17-22), college internship, and a high school academy, which is a “one-week, hands-on course for young people who are interested in a career in law enforcement or students who would like to find out more about the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.”
New York City Police Department offers a Summer Youth Police Academy, Explorer program, and the Police Athletic League, which “serves the youth [ages 3-21] of New York City with recreational, educational, cultural, and social programs.”
Seattle Police Department offers an Explorer program and the Seattle Police Activities League (SEAPAL), which “provides youth 5-18 years of age the opportunity to be a part of a variety of programming activities with police officers serving as coaches, mentors and role models.”

One constant amid the hiring frenzy

Departments are desperate for good recruits, no question. But there’s one standard that hasn’t changed in the face of the current hiring crisis: Every department from the big to the small wants people who are not only passionate about making a difference in their community, but who are inspired to begin – or maintain – a career in law enforcement.

“Policing isn’t easy,” said Michael Parker, consultant with The Parker Group and retired police commander for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, in a recent Police Magazine article. “People are under distress. Policing provides a great opportunity to help people in a great degree of need. But it’s also very difficult because you are in danger, both physically and emotionally. You really need to look inward to see if this is for you.”

Jenny Donovan is a freelance writer and former police officer who resides in Maine.

By Jenny Donovan|2019-06-19T13:47:20-04:00December 26th, 2018|News, Police-Community Relations, Recruitment|Comments Off

Public Safety Voices | Sheriff Ty Trenary

Creativity is key to meeting the challenges we face.

We’re facing four major challenges – all equally big. First, we’re one of the top five fastest growing counties in the country, and we’re having a hard time keeping up with that growth. We’re not currently staffed appropriately to provide the level of service we’d like to. Most days it feels like we’re throwing mud on the wall and seeing what sticks. We’re working with other elected officials on growth, helping them see why we need add staff, but it has been and continues to be a serious challenge.

We also police the transit system. Plus, a new commercial airport is set to open where Boeing is, and we have to police that also. We have got to staff up to these changes, and it’s been a challenge, especially in the current climate. We’ve had to become a lot of more engaged with the community and connect with youth.

Then come the big three: mental illness, homelessness, and the opioid crisis. All three affect how we manage policing. We’re constantly thinking about how to keep everyone safe and in the loop. These issues create challenges that force us to look beyond traditional policing. How do we retool ourselves?

We’re in the midst of a public health crisis: 60-70 percent of our inmate pop have reported metal illness in the last five years. The Snohomish County Jail isn’t staffed for or designed to be a mental health hospital. We can’t use the jail in this way. People aren’t getting the help they need. We can’t make them healthy and are thus sending them back out with same issues. We’ve enhanced our medical staff, brought in outside vendors, we use Facetime for therapy with outside providers, and partnered with the state to bring folks in part-time. But the state is backlogged.

And there’s the opioid crisis. Over 90 percent of our homeless population is suffering from an addiction or mental health issue. Some of our deputies are partnered with social workers, and they’re going out to homeless camps to try to figure out who needs help with addiction and get them treatment.

This is a nationwide crisis that’s on everyone’s mind; everyone wants to talk about it, and it’s going to be here for a while. The thing I’m proud of are the changes we’ve made: a pair of handcuffs and a trip to jail doesn’t work with this crisis. It won’t get us out of this. People say “take them to jail” all the time, but when we give people a hand up, we connect with them, we get them help, they’re not in our system anymore.

Ours is the one business that doesn’t want repeat customers. It’s not fair that we have to fix it, but nontraditional methods are working. We’re trying to be creative as we can. I deal with a lot of people — good families — who are dealing with this. These are human beings. We don’t choose who we protect and serve, it’s everybody.

Over 30 years in law enforcement has taught me a lot.

I’m getting ready to start my 32^nd year in this profession. Back when I joined the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy, I was chosen to be part of a community policing program. My experience with that program is something that has stuck with me and set me on a path toward working very closely with the community. I learned a lot from it. For example, I learned the importance of saying, “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have done that.” And I’ve learned the importance of sitting with people and working together to find solutions.

Our motto is “community first,” and it’s the defining value of my career.

We understand our role as law enforcement; it’s a very honorable but contentious task.

If there’s one thing I’d like the people of Snohomish County to know about our job, it’s that we understand our role. We’re very fortunate to live in a community that supports law enforcement, and in turn we work really, really hard to reduce crime and be engaged in the community.

Every single day we work to engage and connect — and take our lumps when we need to. We don’t ever lose sight of that. Our is a very honorable but contentious task, and we have to be compassionate in everything we do.

-Sheriff Trenary, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Washington

By Jenny Donovan|2018-10-03T16:52:23-04:00October 4th, 2018|Public Safety Voices|Comments Off

Get the Word Out: Tips for Boosting Your Recruitment Efforts

Once you have your job bulletin prepared and it is eye-catching, concise and informative, you are ready to start spreading it around. Just like the other background materials that we have discussed in the recruiting series, you should do some preparation and research to increase the effectiveness of your advertising results. Ideally your approach to attracting viable candidates will be a combination of the two types of recruiting we discussed in article one: “They Find You” and “You Find Them.”

Like most public sector entities your resources are probably limited, which means you are short on money and manpower. Therefore, it is critical that you make the most of your efforts and take advantage of as many freebies as you can. In my experience there are many radio and television stations that will air public service announcements for agencies recruiting for public service positions. We also found that when we made special efforts to add large numbers of police officers to one department I worked with, the media picked it up as a news story and every local news show and newspaper carried the story. Our recruiters were even invited on some talk segments for television and radio all of which served to give us tremendous exposure. Perhaps your local stations will see your recruitment as newsworthy as well, particularly in this time of high unemployment. Giving them a call and pitching that angle may prove beneficial. (more…)

By Robert Burd|2013-03-13T18:55:58-04:00March 14th, 2013|Recruitment|Comments Off

The Two Most Important Documents For Your Recruitment Process

There are two important documents that you will utilize during your recruitment process and they should be designed to work together to maximize your recruiting efforts. I call the first one the “Job Bulletin,” and I call the second the “Job Announcement.” In many jurisdictions, these terms are used interchangeably or other titles are used for the same two documents. Still other jurisdictions attempt to get the job done with just one document. So I have given each document the name I commonly use and I like to stress that, ideally, agencies should make use of both documents. Particularly since the distinction is that the “Bulletin,” is short and covers the basics, while the “Announcement,” is much longer and covers all the aspects of the selection process in detail.

Utilizing two documents can save an agency money and increase the success of the recruitment and selection process. The bulletin being short by design and covering only the basics is cheaper to post on the websites, newspapers and periodicals you have chosen as your sources for getting the word out that you are recruiting. If you have done a thorough job of preparing your job announcement, the length of the document will make posting it on all your recruiting sites cost prohibitive. (more…)

By Robert Burd|2013-03-05T17:11:41-04:00March 6th, 2013|Assessment, Recruitment|Comments Off

Clearly Define the Steps in Your Recruitment Process

There are two documents that are associated with effective recruiting. While they are referred to by many names, I call the first one the “Job Bulletin,” and I call the second one the “Job Announcement.” The distinction I make is that the first one is short and merely covers the basics like the name of the organization, position tile, starting salary, dates for recruiting, and how and where to apply. The second — the job announcement — is sufficiently detailed to provide all the information candidates need to know to help them be successful in the entire process. That being the case, this document is, out of necessity, much longer.

Just like the other steps we have covered in the recruiting process, there is a significant amount of background work that must be done to lay the foundation for preparing these documents. Each time you prepare for a recruitment it is essential that you evaluate your selection plan. Your recruiting efforts will benefit from the efforts that you make to ensure that your plan is as streamlined as possible and that gaps between administering each step in the selection process have been minimized. This is particularly critical when working with candidates who are coming to your location from out-of-town. (more…)

By Robert Burd|2013-02-27T18:06:32-04:00February 28th, 2013|Assessment, Recruitment|2 Comments

Positive Image is a Recruitment Tool

As stated in the first article, the goal of good recruiting should be to attract the best candidates available to become a part of your work force. Minimizing the number of candidates it is necessary to attract to be able to fill the vacancies you have should be the goal of efficient and effective recruiting. That means that ideally you will lose fewer candidates at each step in the selection process so that you ultimately have a good ratio between the number of individuals applying and actual candidates given job offers. This involves targeting qualified candidates in your recruitment process and it also involves doing what you can to ensure the success of the candidates you have attracted.

While producing recruitment strategies that generate large numbers of candidates to apply for the jobs you have available may look impressive, it means very little if those large numbers do not equate to eligibility lists with large numbers of highly qualified candidates. In addition, large numbers can also lead to increasing expenditures in the selection process which is ultimately a waste of money if the quality of candidates is lacking and the steps in your process reflect high failure rates. In order to accomplish the goals of efficient and effective recruiting it is necessary to go back to the beginning and look at the entire process keeping in mind the marketing model. (more…)

By Robert Burd|2013-02-21T14:30:48-04:00February 20th, 2013|Assessment, Recruitment|Comments Off

Recruiting: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

As a Human Resources Professional, I always believed that recruiting was the most exciting and enjoyable part of my job. In particular I found career fairs to be extremely invigorating (and exhausting).

Recruiting is where the rubber meets the road as an old tire advertisement used to say. Recruiting is essentially marketing and it is important to approach the process with that in mind. The process in its simplest terms involves representatives from the agency doing the recruiting and inviting people to join them as part of the work force to do the kind of work needed by the agency they themselves work for. That being the case, recruiters should be excited about what they do, who they do it for and the prospect of being involved in selecting who they get to do it with. (more…)

By Robert Burd|2013-02-21T14:30:08-04:00February 13th, 2013|Assessment, Recruitment|2 Comments