Buffalo Police Push New Recruiting Strategies as Applicant Pool Shrinks

As contract negotiations between the city and the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association begin to ramp up, both sides seem equally eager to focus on at least one area: officer recruitment.

Over the last decade, the department has had ups and downs in terms of bringing new officers into the fold. But recently, the number of new officers has dropped significantly. The most recent class of recruits that went to the academy in January has just five officers, the lowest number since 2015, when 18 cadets joined the academy.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Macy said the department and Mayor Sean Ryan’s administration are working on putting out an entry exam this summer with the hopes of bringing another class to the academy in the fall.

“The turnouts aren't as big as they used to be, so we will do everything in our power to push that,” Macy said of the exam.

Buffalo is not alone in having trouble bringing in new officers. A 2024 national survey conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that 70% of respondents reported that recruiting new officers is more difficult than it was five years before the survey was conducted. Departments that responded were operating at 91% of their authorized staffing levels, on average.

That is why new Commissioner Erika Shields has said she is looking for ways to to develop hiring and recruitment plans for the department.

Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Davidson said because departments across the state are all vying for a shrinking pool of new officers, the issue is compounded.

“It’s not a Buffalo problem. It's not a New York problem. It's a nationwide problem,” Davidson said. “But, specific to this area, we're running into, we're all trying to get the same applicants.”

Facing the challenges

Keith Ross, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said departments are also challenged by the shifting perception of police and police work among the general public, which has become more negative in recent decades.

“American police have an optics problem, that the job is not viewed the way people in my generation viewed the job,” said Ross, a retired master instructor for the New York Police Department.

Macy acknowledged that news coverage and protests over high-profile police killings, misconduct and, more recently, the actions of federal immigration officers have likely factored into the nationwide recruitment challenges. But, at least locally, he said the efforts to reach out directly to potential recruits and policies that have brought more transparency to the department may help attract new officers.

“I would like to think we're turning a corner," Macy said. He said he has encountered community support and appreciative sentiment when he has attended public meetings, and he hopes that is a sign of more interest from potential recruits.

In addition, departments are needing to think more about work conditions and the expectations of younger generations, many of whom value time off more than previous generations.

“Generation Z has different expectations than the Millennials had, than Gen X had, so I think that this is a contributing factor,” Ross said.

Davidson said pay remains an obvious tool for making a position more attractive, and that may be addressed as part of the union's next contract negotiation.

“In the last couple years, we have seen officers leave the Buffalo Police Department for suburban agencies, and it is mostly because of pay and quality of work life balance,” Davidson said.

Davidson agreed that many young officers value their time off more than previous generations. With the low recruitment numbers and uptick in retirements recently, many have been forced to work long hours and night and weekend shifts to meet minimum staffing levels for each shift as spelled out in the union contract. That has been especially true in B-District, home to many large events and a late-night bar scene.

Last year, 47 officers retired, more than double than in a typical year, driven largely by the lack of certainty around police healthcare, an issue that has been temporarily solved through a memorandum of agreement signed last year extending existing health care coverage for officers, Davidson said.

“You run into these issues where guys, they literally can't plan vacations. They can't go to weddings. They can't go to christenings,” Davidson said. “And these guys and girls are missing big life events, not because they're money-hungry and want to hammer overtime. They're being forced to work.”

Developing new strategies

Macy said the department is looking at a number of strategies to solve this problem. For example, officials are looking into the possibility of administering an online test, which would allow them to pull from a broader pool of potential candidates, with potential officers able to take the exam from afar.

Another early idea is to target lateral transfers − recruiting officers from other departments who already have all necessary certifications to work in the state.

Macy said the department also is relying on word-of-mouth recruiting, part of building on community relations efforts. And department leaders want their officers to be promoting the department to potential officers all the time, even when there is no exam scheduled.

Additionally, traditional advertising and social media will be used to promote the exam and department.

“We have to be very thoughtful about our recruiting, because these exams cost money and they take time,” Macy said.

Reflecting the community

In 2015, former Mayor Byron Brown introduced a diversity initiative aimed at making the Buffalo Police Department’s racial and gender statistics more closely reflect the communities they police. The program was modeled off of recommendations from the federal Task Force on 21st Century Policing report issued by former President Barack Obama’s administration in the wake of civil unrest following the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

At the time, white officers outpaced their representation in city demographics by a significant measure, at about 70% of the force, while white people accounted for 46% of city residents.

While that program – which offered grants for tuition, uniform and book expenses to minority cadets who completed the academy – lasted less than a year, the department has continued to grow more diverse.

Today, white people make up 44% of city residents and 65% of all officers, according to U.S. Census data and numbers provided by the city.

Part of the thinking behind diversity initiatives that came out of the federal policing report was that having a force more reflective of the community would not only help to ease tensions between the police and community, but would also offer a wider pool of potential police officers.

Ross said diversity initiatives may be less of a priority for many departments, with their focus shifting to ways to make the job more attractive to younger generations.

Still, the force has continued to grow more diverse. Since 2015 the department has brought 538 cadets from the academy. Of those, 52% were white.

“I think if you are doing the community policing and you act professional, and you have a good relationship with your community on a regular basis, naturally, you're going to get a pretty diverse group of people,” Macy said.

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