Law enforcement agencies over 100 years ago often didn’t have any hiring standards. Those who were hired to be police officers, constables, deputies, etc., were simply those who the sheriff or chief decided to hire. They were the men who had proven themselves, to the sheriff or chief’s satisfaction, to be reliable, honest, fair, of good judgment and tough enough to deal with the criminal element. Unfortunately, sometimes the chief or sheriff’s judgment was wrong. Farther back than 100 years ago, some of the best law enforcement officers were those who were criminals first. (Check out the actual history of Wyatt Earp as the example. He was an escaped criminal in one jurisdiction before being deputized by his brother in a different territory.)
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Then came the time when agencies began to realize that defendable standards in the selection and hiring process were necessary. Selection standards were set, and eventually evolved to include age, height, weight, vision, knowledge and more. As much as 50-plus years ago you could find agencies sorting applicants by scores on a written test, scores on a physical fitness test, performance during interviews and clearance from a psychologist/ psychiatrist after a test or interview
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, affirmative action went into effect and mandates to ensure diversity of new hires began to affect how applicants were selected. For example, with a mandate to insure at least 10% of all new hires were of minority status, the applicants could be sorted by race and gender. Many agencies still had maximum age limits, and, by law, every agency had a minimum age limit, although in some states it was 18 and in other states it was 21. A high school diploma was required and if an applicant had military service or college it made them a more attractive recruit. For all that, if an agency was going to hire 150 people and only had 15 applicants who qualified as a minority, virtually every one of them would have to be hired. But what happened if, of those 15 minority applicants, a few couldn’t pass the written test with a high enough score, or pass the fitness test?
The answer, all too often, was to change the standard. Lower the passing written test score or allow more time for a run, demand fewer push-ups, etc. Or maybe someone could pass all the testing, but they also had a misdemeanor criminal conviction that disqualified them. Inevitably, the hiring standards had to be adjusted so that agencies could continue to staff as required. Performance testing came into vogue and standards became demonstrably less about size, gender, strength, etc. and more about generic qualifications: intelligence, observation skills, general fitness, integrity, etc.
Jump forward in time to the present and add in several years of legacy media sensationalizing every mistake, minor or major, that any member of law enforcement has made, and societal mistrust of police has grown. Political calls for defunding the police, now paying communities back with higher crime rates, made becoming a law enforcement professional even less attractive. Changes in laws that put an officer or deputy’s financial future at stake, just for doing their job, make the vocation even less attractive
With all of that going on, how does an agency manage to continue recruiting quality candidates, maintaining standards so that the community served still receives professional law enforcement officers? The answer is a combination of pay, benefits, agency reputation, agency culture, community reputation and, unfortunately, sales, marketing and advertising.
In almost every jurisdiction you’ll find competition for good recruit candidates. When that competition for recruits is between the state, a county, a big city and a few smaller towns, the budget strength is usually all at the state and county level. Big cities tend to have some budget strength, but often more intense political battles that create budget conflict. The smaller towns end up trying to attract good quality recruit candidates but have lower salaries to offer and fewer benefits like uniform allowances, assigned patrol vehicles or tuition reimbursement.
Where the smaller jurisdictions can compete is with agency and community culture. Smaller jurisdictions often are led by either elected sheriffs or carefully selected police chiefs who don’t have to play big political games, allowing them to focus on community relations, leaning more toward peace keeping than strict law enforcement.
Such discretion can have a big impact on public perception and community relations. Where bigger agencies may focus on statistics and more targeted enforcement efforts, smaller agencies can meet their enforcement obligations but have more time for community engagement, and they can often exercise more discretion in whether or not they make arrests in misdemeanor cases
To support that effort and focus, today’s agencies have to focus on social media engagement, open and clear communications with local news outlets and partnerships with community organizations that help promote a positive image of the agency. Hiring events are only one item on the list of recruiting efforts. Agency image has to be maintained 24/7/365, and the image improvement from other community engagement events will help the recruiting events draw more people. All of the events have to be announced, as much as possible, through local news, radio shows and social media outlets to include Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, and anything new that comes along (like the relatively new Threads).
Maintaining the social media outlets with any kind of strategy, linking them all, ensuring efficient and accurate transmission of information, is almost a full-time job. The agency’s recruiting officer(s) will need to work cohesively with whomever is managing the agency’s social media information distribution system. They will also have to work hand-in-hand with the agency’s Public Information Officer. The agency’s social media leveraging efforts included in your policies and procedures.
The most challenging part of maintaining the agency image, combining it with community relations and leveraging both to support recruiting efforts will require the agency leadership to engage the community in multiple settings and ways. Holiday events, school events, safety events, and community events—the agency needs to have a supportive presence at all of them. By demonstrating their integration into the community, and their legitimate concern for the same, beyond strict enforcement activities, agencies appear to be a desirable employment option with a respected image, valued in the community.
