This is our last article in a three-part series on the challenges law enforcement faces recruiting and retaining quality candidates as a result of cultural and demographic changes. If you have not yet read them, please see the first two (“The Present and Coming Recruitment and Retention Crisis” and “The Human Capital Consideration of Recruitment and Retention”) for background and context for what is to come.
Inertia in the face of shifting demographic and attitudinal paradigms will almost certainly harm police recruiting. This is true not only in the emerging generation of current and future police recruiting pools but also among those who are both older but less tied to previous avocational desires and expectations, whether they are still potential recruits or in a position to influence them (i.e. parents, relatives, friends, school counselors, etc). Law enforcement as a profession is generally conservative and rooted in tradition, but falling back on what has worked before and assumed will work again may be a doomed strategy. As departments confront the challenges of recruiting from and then retaining a distinctly smaller and unique candidate pool, creativity and a willingness to question past practices will win the day.
In our last article we discussed what we referred to as the human capital consideration, or the need to understand and adjust for the unique personality and demographic traits of those upon whom police departments will build their futures. As much as you might want and expect the next generation of cops to look, act, and think just like you it’s not going to happen. Their qualities, thoughts, and reactions will be shaped by their own history and collective experience and must be considered. Today we will discuss some general suggestions the profession should consider, including a couple nontraditional shifts in the recruitment paradigm.
TIGHTEN hiring standards despite – and even because of – the recruitment crisis
Faced with fewer candidates from which to choose, some departments may feel compelled to loosen their hiring standards, take greater risks with candidates who would never have passed muster before, or turn a blind eye to certain red flags. They may figure and hope rough edges can be polished in the academy or by a good FTO, that maturation will come through the job and with responsibility and from watching already mature colleagues, and that failed hires can be easily replaced later. Maybe, but probably not.
Instead of settling on a pulse and apparent signs of cognitive function as a baseline standard (I’m only sort of kidding) insist instead on the highest quality in potential officers. This doesn’t mean perfection, but it does mean holding out for more measurable potential, higher levels of education, better and more expansive work histories, and the highest levels of psychological fitness and emotional intelligence. Put candidates through more rigorous vetting and make it known that police departments want only the best!
Consider the current media climate; every questionable action, bad decision, suspicious or legitimately improper use of force, and case of corruption is offered up for public consumption and critique. Even actions, decisions, and force ultimately deemed justifiable are dragged through a multimedia wringer. Is it any wonder an entire generation steeped in this media is more suspicious of police than any time in recent memory?
Still, keep in mind that law enforcement as an institution is still relatively well-respected and liked by most millennials and Gen Z’s, and publicly tightening standards in response to criticism (some of which is deserved, if we’re being honest) will a) only bolster that solid institutional respect, and b) may increase the likelihood law enforcement will be seen as a viable career option for the already ambitious younger generations who value the opportunity to “make a difference.”
Supervise and lead current and future police officers with the respect due professionals
The difference between leadership and management can be vast, although it doesn’t have to be. Far more police supervisors and administrators excel at management than leadership, and those able to both manage and lead should be valued and their gifts taught.
Reams of research and writing continue to support what a lot of us know experientially – that younger Millennials and the emerging Gen Z’s are in need of affirming yet firm leadership. If your line supervisors and upper admins are expecting to simply manage them as they often do older, more experienced officers or those with prior work or military experience everybody – FTOs, bosses, young officers, the older officers who have to work with them – are destined for frustration.
So departments must invest in finding, developing, and utilizing leaders who can draw the best out of untested, inexperienced recruits who don’t yet know what they don’t know, and insist on treating them (and everyone) as professionals with all the respect due a professional.
And they must flush out those managers we’ve all had to deal with and tolerate, the unskilled and the petty and the in-over-their-head motivation killers and morale busters. It is this last group who will crush the spirits of a generational cohort who will have no tolerance (or need) for their nonsense at all.
Address social concerns about policing directly and honestly (and without the stiff, canned responses)
One of the concerns a lot of LEOs and administrators express is how the portrayal of police in the media has possibly poisoned the well when it comes to recruitment. One of my concerns is how poorly we as a profession respond.
I cringe every time I see one of two responses to public questioning of, or backlash against, a police controversy:
First, I cringe at the almost rote public responses of the brass and PIOs who find themselves thrust in front of news cams or across from a reporter to give a statement. More often than not, these statements are stiff, canned soundbytes designed to assuage and buy time and distance from the event that spawned them. They never inspire confidence in a suspicious public. They don’t even inspire confidence in ME, a veteran cop who knows what the intended message is supposed to be, and desperately wants to buy into and trust it.
Look, reassign the PIOs who write this drivel elsewhere – may I suggest overnight parking enforcement in some dark, out-of-the-way residential neighborhood – and find someone who can speak with real empathy and conviction while sounding like an actual human. That may not necessarily be the chief, commissioner, etc…
Second, I cringe when criticism is met with anger and defensiveness, whether as an official retort or unofficially in other venues. If people have concerns, respect them. If they have questions, answer them. If they don’t understand, educate them. But understand these are your stakeholders, even when they frustrate you, and trust that the majority will find some comfort when we react to their concerns with both empathy and realness, even when we have to push back.
Negative media portrayals of law enforcement aren’t going away and clicks on the internet drive profit; as long as there will be police controversies there’re sure to be those feeding them to hungry audiences. The problem is in how they shape public perception. The law enforcement profession needs to meet the challenges this poses by recognizing that every cop is now a public figure, buying time and distance from a crisis no longer cuts it, and taking responsibility and acknowledging when one of our own legitimately screws up. The critical public also tends to be quite forgiving when met with candor.
Lobby for dramatically improved pay and benefits
If we want professional, well-educated, and highly trained police forces we need to insist they be paid accordingly. The pay and benefits or police officers range widely, with some cops enjoying comfortable upper middleclass lifestyles and others barely making subsistence level income. No one expects to get rich in public service but pay and benefits should reflect the responsibility, importance, and difficulty of the role.
Police administrators and bargaining units, as well as the political class who claim to support and lobby for police, should be making this a top priority.
Look to add educational benefits and opportunities for a generation that values and desires them
A number of years ago a local university near us created a unique educational opportunity for first responders in the area. Officers and firefighters without college degrees could enroll in a tuition free Cohort Program designed for nontraditional students, in which they would enroll with a set group of fellow students in one of a number of Baccalaureate programs to complete a bachelor’s degree. Those already holding a bachelor’s degree could enroll in a similar graduate program. It was very popular and wildly successful!
Such a program is just one example of creatively offering unique educational opportunities for a generational cohort that values education and personal development. Others could be:
Less intense and time consuming certification programs or fellowships that transcend traditional training, require less commitment than a full degree program, and offer specialized and intensive training in officers areas of interest;
Expanded tuition reimbursement for those seeking education, or financial incentive plans to offset a portion of existing student loans;
Signing bonuses or pay differentials for those who hold degrees, have specific skillsets, have served in the military, or possess other characteristics that set them apart. Rewarding achievement or experience is a powerful incentive and motivator;
Offer similar hiring bonuses for experienced officers who are changing jobs or laterally transferring, or relocation assistance if they are moving longer distances to join a new department. Remember, younger adults are from a group that sees job-hopping as normal and expected and, while it makes sense to stay put for both officers and their department, which may not be the reality – or merely be one of several viable realities – going forward.
There are surely many other possibilities but the point of these is that departments and society need to see the value in recruiting and retaining top candidates, should be willing to pay for the police service they desire and deserve, and need to think creatively to attract the best of a sometimes skeptical talent pool.
Invest in and improve recruitment initiatives, whether locally, at the state level, or nationally
For decades police departments were able to count on people wanting to be cops with the pay, benefits, and security of the job being enough to attract more than enough quality candidates. This is no longer guaranteed. Spending time and money, building strategic and expertise-driven hiring campaigns, and highlighting the good, the bad, and even the ugly of the job in a realistic manner while still appealing to the natural idealism of youth.
Recruitment should focus on diversity and valuing the skills and attributes of those who might not have been traditionally targeted or expected to seek a career in law enforcement. Departments should consider seeing diversity as not just race, ethnicity, and sex but also gender identity, experience, demeanor and personality, and age.
Consider raising or even eliminating upper age limits
Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the conventional wisdom that “policing is a young person’s game” and the hiring practices that go along with it. Upper age limits, where they exist, stand in the way of a lot of potentially good would-be cops whose lives followed a different path for one reason or another, or where their interest in law enforcement surface later.
Several years ago we were speaking at a conference outside Seattle, WA. Afterward I was approached by a Seattle officer in uniform, a few years older than me and with a bit more than a “touch of gray,” and we struck up a conversation. I was visibly surprised, after I’d asked him how long he’d been on the job and did he still like it, to hear, “Two years. I love it!” It turns out being a cop had always been a dream of his so, at age 51 and after twenty some years as a financial planner, he retired from the money game to finally be a cop.
Why not? If the desire’s there and you’re still fit for the job, imagine the wealth of experience, knowledge, and steadiness such a “new” guy could bring. Opening the gates to more experienced recruits may relieve the pressure of finding good younger officers, and bolster the ranks in areas struggling to compete with all the other departments for the best candidates.
Focus also on more rural initiatives
Many rural areas of the country are bleeding population quickly as their residents age, the effects of the long-term baby bust come to fruition, and young adults move away for education, jobs, and social opportunities. At the same time, these communities have experienced an uptick in crime, drug abuse and addiction, and lives endangered by suicide and despair. The need for top notch law enforcement is as every bit as critical in and around the small towns that dot the landscape as it is in cities and the ‘burbs.
Unfortunately, these communities struggle to provide competitive salaries and benefits for public servants and lack many of the amenities bigger communities offer. On the other hand, they generally have much lower costs of living, a slower pace of life and work, and for people who long for country living they may feel like paradise. Initiatives could be developed to draw the interested and curious to serve these communities, introduce the bright kids who are likely to stick around or come back to the idea of policing, or help fund financial incentive hiring bonuses to sweeten the pot.
These ideas and suggestions are hardly exhaustive. We’re certain others have or could come up with ideas of their own, or know of existing recruitment programs already in place. We invite you to share ideas, thoughts, and known successes that could help the profession overcome the recruitment and retention issues starting to affect it.
