How To Recruit Police Officers

A Metaphor For Police Staffing Challenges

Diminishing sources of recruitment, increasing causes of attrition, and broadening police responsibilities all shape questions of workforce supply and demand. A bucket metaphor can help conceptualize and delineate the distinct forces at work .

In this metaphor, the size of the bucket represents the absolute need for police officers. The water level, which will rise and fall over time with accession and attrition, frequently does not fill the bucket. This is because the demand for officers exceeds the ability to meet it due to resource or other constraints. The difference between the need for police officers and the current level of officers represents unmet demand for them. The authorized or allocated level of officers, representing the number of officers for which an agency is budgeted, is usually between the current level of officers and demand for them. Allocation of officers is determined by such variables as workload, service orientation, and available resources.

Three forces can affect the bucket and the water, or supply of officers, in it.

Identify A Department’s Key Differentiators Or Competitive Advantages

The Washington County Sheriffs Office revitalized its deputy recruitment by determining what makes the department unique. Some differentiators are strong community support, organizational culture and core values. The panelists discussed the critical importance of having a strong and healthy culture before launching a new recruitment program.

Pleased to hire 3 outstanding candidates as new Officers last night in front a packed house at the City Council meeting. Congrats to Off. Tanya Virula, Off. Jon Ellis & Off. Ben Ward!

Chief Jim Ferraris

How To Recruit Police Officers

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The New York City Police Department has fallen short of its recruitment goals. Besides increasing numbers, it needs to attract more officers from minority communities, building a police force that has more in common with the people it polices. But Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik’s decision to relax the age and education requirements is a bad idea. Instead, the department should dramatically expand its recruiting and find creative new ways to attract and retain mature, well-educated candidates. For starters, the new effort should focus on the college-age population within the city itself, especially at the City University of New York.

The department has historically drawn its recruits from the ranks of former military men accustomed to discipline and self-restraint. After the draft was abolished, police recruits tended to be raw high school graduates who had little discipline or experience following orders. The department tried to compensate for this problem in 1995, when it raised the minimum age for new recruits from 20 to 22 and and required that they have two years in the military or two years’ worth of college credits.

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Become A Police Officer

If you are looking for a career that is both challenging and rewarding, then why not consider joining the Ontario Provincial Police?

If you are committed to working collaboratively with communities to prevent crime and improve public safety, then a career in policing could be right for you. We are one of the largest police services in North America, responsible for policing over one million square kilometres of land and waterways.

How To Recruit More Female Police Officers

We all know that having women in law enforcement is important, so why is it that there are only 12.6% female officers nationwide? This is a loaded question but it is possible to recruit more female police officers to your department. In fact, in just six months, Hayward PD was able to increase female applicants by 500% when working with us.

Studies have proved that female officers are just as qualified as their male counterparts. Plus, they are able to provide different skills and perspectives. Departments across the nation struggle with recruiting women, so what type of ideas can be implemented to change this?

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Questions About Experience And Background

These police interview questions help an employer learn more about your specific qualifications:

• How many years have you worked in the force?

• What was your greatest failure on the job?

• What have you learned from your past mistakes?

• Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision.

• What makes you qualified for this position?

• What does a good police officer look like to you?

• Tell me about your responsibilities in your previous role.

• What did you enjoy the most during your training?

• What duties do you enjoy the most?

• What do you hope to achieve with a career in law enforcement?

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Make Frequent Contact With Applicants

Use a diverse recruitment team at different points in the process to make frequent contact. Match these points of contact with milestones in the process, up to and including the date job offers will be made. Washington County applicants have jail and patrol job shadowing during their recruitment. By the time an applicant is hired, they should feel well connected to the agency.

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Creative Police Recruiting Strategies

In order to successfully recruit more candidates to your department, creative police recruiting strategies will separate you from competitors. Radio ads and job boards dont do the trick anymore.

At Epic Recruiting, we have over 16 years of experience recruiting the next generation of officers through creative police recruitment strategies. Lets take a closer look at the top five creative recruiting strategies for your police department.

Chicago Police Department Seeks To Recruit Us Marines Amid Officer Shortage

Chicagopolice are seeking to hire former U.S. Marines as they try to find 1,300 new officers they need to operate.

Chicago Police Deputy Chief Migdalia Bulnes went to Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California, where 9,000 Marines become civilians every year, to replenish the city’s police force, and took six former who are now officers to help in the recruitment, she said Thursday. The department has recently hired 50 new officers but still needs more to operate fully, according to CBS.

“The reality is that we need to fill the gaps quickly,” Bulnes said.

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Background checks, drug screens, and written tests were given immediately on-site to the 19 Marines who applied for positions in the police force. The process typically takes several months to complete but is now compressed to only three weeks.

In reaching out to former U.S. Marines, Bulnes acknowledged that one of the biggest challenges in recruiting new officers is “the negativity that goes around it,” as police departments across the country are struggling to keep officers after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Police resignations are up by more than 40% since 2019, and retirements increased by almost 25% during the same period, according to a recent survey of 172 police departments conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum.

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Job Outlook For Bc Police Officers

Currently, police officers in B.C. are considered to be a high opportunity occupation. According to the B.C. Labour Market Outlook, there is an expected employment growth rate of 0.6% from 2019-2024 and over 3000 job openings forecasted up to 2022.

WorkBC states that 86.1% of those job opportunities will be made available due to current police officers retiring and 13.9% are due to economic growth.

The Bucket Metaphor And Demand For Police Officers

First, officers might be leaked through a hole in the bucket caused by attrition. Attrition can result from several sources. Budget crises might cause jurisdictions to reduce their number of officers. Some characteristics of the local police organization might become unappealing to officers who decide to pursue work elsewhere. A pending wave of baby-boom generation retirements threat-ens to reduce experience levels of police departments. Increasing numbers of call-ups are requiring more officers who are also reservists to spend longer periods on nation-building and other military duties. Finally, younger generations of workers might be more likely to change careers to find the work they like best. Understanding these and other sources of retention problems is critically important. It is far more costly and time-consuming to recruit an officer than to retain one. Reducing retention problems can alleviate much of the need for recruiting.

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Highlighting Current Female Officers

While police recruitment is important, retention is debatably even more crucial. There are things you can do to empower existing female officers while recruiting new applicants as well.

Creating a digital recruiting strategy is a way to highlight current staff while reaching new candidates. When creating a recruiting strategy, give a voice to both male and female officers. Sharing their experience and opinions will resonate more accurately to future applicants.

At Berkeley PD, the strategy we created focused on officers as unique individuals. This allowed us to speak to applicants and community members on a more personal level. Highlighting your police officers will give a sense of pride to the work theyre doing, while showing female recruits that this could be them too.

Seven: You’re Almost At The Finish Line: Undergo A Field Investigation And Security Assessment

The final step in the application process is a field investigation and security assessment. The RCMP will conduct a thorough investigation into your background to help assess your suitability. If successful, you will receive your security clearance.

Once you have passed all the application and assessment steps you will be contacted to attendthe RCMP Cadet Training Program.

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The Application Process For Police Officer Candidates

It isnt easy becoming a police officer. Potential candidates need to go through a stringent application process designed to weed out those who dont have what it takes to become outstanding police officers.

Police officers help maintain peace and order and ensure that members of the community stay safe. This job comes with immense responsibility. The application process itself is not for everyone.

Canadian police agencies generally follow the same process which involves a series of tests, checks and interviews, including:

• A written exam
• A polygraph exam
• A background investigation

Some of these tests require detailed paperwork but minimal preparation. For some tests, like the physical tests, you would be best prepared if you did a fitness training program, prior to, depending on your fitness level. Other tests, like the polygraph exam, require no preparation at all.

Applicants can be declined at any point in the stages listed above and even if a candidate passes every stage, an offer of employment is not guaranteed.

Once you have completed all assessments, your entire application package is reviewed and measured against other applicants to determine the most suitable candidates for the role as a police officer.

If you are recruited, you can expect a conditional offer of employment that allows you to advance to the final step before you become a police officer: cadet training.

What Do Police Look For In A Background Check

The background exam is a very thorough investigation of the applicants past. It is common for the hiring parties to speak to colleagues, family members, neighbours, landlords, as well as present and past employers. This helps to determine whether you have a track record of high ethical standards in all areas of your life. You will be required to provide your criminal record, driving record, credit history, and history of alcohol and drug use. Additionally, you will need to pass a polygraph exam that shows whether you have been dishonest or deceitful in answering any of the questions throughout the application process.

When applying to police agencies, you will be disqualified if*:

• You have matters pending at a criminal court
• You participated in any indictable offenses. These offenses are the mostserious of criminal activities, which include murder, sexual assault, and terrorist activities.
• You have a criminal conviction that has not been pardone.
• You participated in less serious criminal behaviour or activity within one year of applying. These activities are referred to as summary conviction offenses under the Criminal Code. They include illicit drug use, theft, and impaired driving.
• You have been dishonourably discharged or dismissed from any other law enforcement organization
• You have a pending or current personal bankruptcy

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Minimum Requirements For Bc Police Officer Applicants

Before you apply, check to ensure that you meet the minimum requirements. The following list of application requirements applies to most police agencies in British Columbia:

• Minimum 19 years of age
• Good driving record
• Meet the necessary level of physical abilities, vision standards, and hearing standards

In addition to the above, the Vancouver Police Department prefers candidates who meet the following requirements:

• Degree or diploma in any field of study or have at least 30 academic post-secondary credits
• Proficiency in a second language
• Volunteer experience in the community

The Victoria Police Department adds the following to their list of requirements and preferred qualifications:

• If the applicant is a Permanent Resident, they will need to have held that status for a minimum of two years
• Computer skills and demonstrated keyboarding ability required

Those applying for a police career in the Thompson-Okanagan region would apply to the RCMP since there is no municipal police force in that area. RCMP applicants need to meet the following additional requirements:

Hire For Character And Attitude

Its important to have a list of ideal applicant attributes and then make sure hiring and testing selects for ideal applicants. Washington County has revamped its hiring process, especially the interview panel, to test for empathy, honesty, integrity, resilience and decision-making character traits the agency believes are the best for the community it serves.

Chief Jim Ferraris

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Fix The Departments Reputation

Building and maintaining trusting relationships, adhering to policies and being accountable to the community are critical to a positive reputation. The City of Woodburn needed to make significant changes to improve its reputation as a critical step to recruiting better applicants. Applicants now tell the City of Woodburn that leadership and reputation were more important in their decision to apply than other factors like pay and benefits.

Benefits Of Female Officers To Police Departments

A study titled Women Police: The Use of Force by and Against Female Police Officers lays out some interesting findings about female police officers. The study found that female police officers are less likely to be named in a citizen complaint and to have excessive force allegations levied against them. The study also goes on to show that the mere presence of female officers can reduce the levels of force used by their fellow officers. Reduction of excessive force allegations is important given the recent scrutiny of police officers in our country, so more women on the force could be helpful in reducing excessive force incidents.

There are other benefits that female police officers provide as well, such as helping in implementing community-based policing strategies. According to the National Center for Women and Policing, women generally possess superior interpersonal communication skills. In law enforcement, these skills can help defuse potentially violent situations and also promote deeper levels of trust between the communities and local police departments.

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Potential Disqualifiers For A Policing Career In Canada

When preparing yourself for a policing career, you need to be aware of what will disqualify you from the police application process. As far as the written, physical, and medical exams, the requirements are fairly consistent across all agencies.

Language Disqualifier: You need to be fluent in either English or French including being able to speak, read, and understand one of these languages.

Physical Disqualifier: You cannot be in poor physical condition. Failure to successfully complete the physical examination in the minimum time frame is an automatic disqualification.

Test particulars can vary from one police agency to the next. However, all tests simulate critical incidents that police officers are exposed to. For example. the Physical Abilities Requirement Evaluation , used by the RCMP, consists of three sections:

Psychological Disqualifiers: A candidate can be disqualified if they do not meet the minimum psychological examination requirements.

Work Environment Disqualifiers: Police departments require you to work shift work which includes nights, evenings, weekends, and holidays as policing takes place 24 hours per day. If you are unwilling to accommodate this type of work schedule, you will be disqualified from the process.

Why Police Forces Are Struggling To Recruit And Keep Officers

In a growing number of American cities, if you call the police, there are fewer officers taking the call.

Police departments across the nation are raising concerns about current and future staffing levels. CNN reached out to nearly 20 departments nationwide, along with other key stakeholders including elected officials, union officials and outside recruiters for departments for this story.

They all point to similar concerns including Covid-19, the great resignation, the climate for law enforcement and local reform efforts that are making recruitment and retention difficult.

The challenges have led the chief of police in Durham, North Carolina, to join her officers in patrolling her own city. The department is down 90 officers out of a budgeted force of 627. The department has started to offer a $5,000 bonus for new hires to fill its ranks.

Its been tough, Chief Patrice Andrews said of the current staffing issues facing her city. Weve had to be very creative with staffing, you know, putting investigators and those that typically wouldnt necessarily be taking 911 calls, putting them back on the street.

A national survey from June of 2021 found that departments around the country on average were filling 93% of budgeted positions available, according to the Police Executive Research Forum.

CNNs Kevin Conlon contributed to this report

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