Police recruitment - Essay Example

Introduction The enrollment and retention of police officers is a significant challenge for police agents. This problem is exacerbated by pending retirements, local budget crises, military calls, heavy competition by qualified applicants and the ever changing work preferences of the young people. All these issues are arising at a time when there are increased homeland security demands and high levels of crime in American cities. Many police agencies find difficulties in recruiting minority and female officers. Also, the economic downturn if late 2008 and early 2009 presented profound setbacks on the budgets of local agencies (Rand.org). The impact of the economic downturn was enough to impede the ability of local police departments to maintain a proper workforce. The agencies are unable to recruit more police officers into their ranks. Other agencies went further to lay off police officers and institute hiring freezes. Even in times of financial difficulty, it is important to carry out proper recruitment strategies. The law enforcement agencies success starts with its recruitment strategies. Hiring and retaining shortcomings that have plagued the law enforcement agencies all over the United States persist today. Many applicants who are mainly recruited for policing are being recruited by other industries. Small and rural police departments are finding it impossible to compete against their larger counterparts in the hiring efforts. With the changing demographics, law enforcement agencies must ensure that their department’s staff represents the communities they serve. The staff must, therefore, include the underrepresented people by, religion, race, and gender. While some agencies are struggling with hiring and retaining, others are advancing by employing innovative strategies. To help the police agencies in coming up with innovative strategies, the RAND Center on quality policing organizes police recruitment and retaining summits to come up with better methods for the contemporary urban environment. They discuss the ever changing police workforce and the accompanying issues, lessons that could be learned from the military and deep analysis of police recruitment and retention cases (Rand.org). Recruitment Strategies In order to recruit a diverse and high-quality police force, law enforcement agencies must employ the following strategies. Engage the community; a community’s involvement should be viewed as a method of improving the functions of a law enforcement agency. Community engagement leads to a greater sense of respect and trust of the law enforcement agencies to the people. This also strengthens the agency’s ability to identify and attract people who have the best attributes to become competent law enforcement personnel (Policechiefmagazine.org). The City of Hartford, based in Connecticut, conducted a community engagement study to improve the police recruitment of minority officers. The community’s focus group enabled the law enforcement agency to identify the main recruitment barrier. The lengthy time experienced between the applicant’s applications for the job to the offer was found to be the largest barrier. Community engagement can help in bringing down the obstacles to progress, and the shared responsibility increases political support for needed change (Rand.org). Hiring for community needs has been properly implemented by the Oakland Police Department and was able to attract new candidates for the community policing program. The one million dollar campaign featured billboards and other campaigning platforms, but it was the website that was the most effective tool for reaching out to the community. This process was streamlined, and they were able to get promising candidates who were even being considered by other departments. The Oakland Police Department sent emails on a regular basis to notify the applicants of their progress. As a way of increasing recruitment and retention, they pay each officer one thousand dollars for recruiting and mentoring a new employee through the hiring process and the first two weeks in the job (Rand.org). Streamline recruitment and selection; Agencies should carefully evaluate their hiring process to assess whether they are getting the candidate the community needs on top of the candidate they want. Agencies should look at the relevance of traditional disqualifying factors to note whether they are hindrances to hiring the best quality police officer. Police department recruitment and selection processes are cumbersome (Policechiefmagazine.org). They have the possibility of frustrating the applicants who might seek employment elsewhere. These weak recruitment strategies were designed to select out (exclude) instead of select in (include) a candidate. The most effective and efficient recruitment processes are those that are quickly completed to allow the candidate to move from application to employment at a faster rate. For instance, the hiring process for the Washington law enforcement agency was lengthy. The chief of the department, Cathy Lanier, identified that retaining the staff required more focus on both recruitment and retention. They shortened this process through automation programs such as the “shotgun” application. This made the department improve its efficiency in candidate consideration processes. They were able to focus on candidates who were likely to be successful and those who opted to remain with the department. Also, as a way of improving retention, they have a website where officers anonymously make suggestions. Engaging the police officers improves their chances to stay (Rand.org). Telling the police story; this is one of the greatest tasks that is facing the law enforcement agencies since many Americans undervalue police service. Law enforcement leaders must come up with plans to communicate an honest portrayal of police work to the American public. The biggest challenge would be obtaining a broad consensus, support and cooperation from the police chiefs. Developing a proper marketing communication strategy that tells true policing stories will offset the policing media accounts that are prone to negativity. Telling of factual statements of service by honorable officers values those who are serving and increases the likelihood of more applicants (Policechiefmagazine.org). Achieving diversity; many law enforcement agencies are unable to maintain a workforce that is diverse and reflects the community that they have sworn to serve and protect. Agencies should create a positive perception of themselves within the community. One way of accomplishing this is to ensure that all recruits hired are doing well in high profile job assignments and promotions (Usccr.gov). A diverse and competent police workforce is essential to the successful operation of the agency. Another way of improving the reputation of the agency is by recruiting women. One way of encouraging women to join and those already recruited to stay is by making advertisement videos of women who are in different ranks talk about their progress and what they used to do prior to joining the force (Milgram). Recruiting and retaining lessons from the military; both the military and the law enforcement are market driven and hierarchical rank systems where recruits enter at the bottom and get promoted through the ranks. Promotion of these two agencies is offered on a competitive basis, and they also provide the option for an early retirement. They also share the same life cycle events. The first year, also known as the accession period requires both to consider how to bring in qualified personnel, select the best jobs, train and assign them. The second to fifth years are probationary and learning period where they decide who to retain or separate, although separation in the police context arises in performance issues. The fifth through the fifteenth year is the promotion period, where considerations are made on who to promote or not. The subsequent years involve retirement and other senior assignments. Variations among these two agencies would enable a law enforcement agency to come up with effective recruitment and retention practices (Rand.org). Conclusion Law enforcement agencies should come up with strategies that ensure that they recruit and retain their best police officers. By engaging the community, they would solve the recruitment issues and identify and attract the best-suited people. By streamlining recruitment and selection, they will get rid of the hindrances and focus on the candidates who are likely to succeed. Telling the police story will encourage people to join while achieving diversity will improve the success rates. Studying the variations between the law enforcement agency and the military will present the best recruitment and retention strategies. Works Cited Milgram, Donna. The Police Chief Magazine: Recruiting Women. IWITTS. N.P, 2002. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. Policechiefmagazine.org,. Police Chief Magazine - View Article. N.P., 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. Rand.org,. Police Recruitment And Retention In The Contemporary Urban Environment: A National Discussion of Personnel Experiences and Promising Practices from the Front Lines | RAND. N.P., 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. Usccr.gov,. Chapter 2. N.P., 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. Read More