Police officer recruitment and retention: a review of NIJ findings

Recruiting and Retaining Police Officers:

• Discuss the difficulties in recruiting, selecting, and retaining police officers. What suggestions can you offer for improving the recruitment, selection, and retention of qualified police officers? Be specific about the traits you would seek in new recruits, and why.

According to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report entitled Hiring and keeping police officers, financial cutbacks and negative publicity (particularly in regards to racial profiling) coupled with increased educational requirements has resulted in greater difficulty in recruiting new police officers nation-wide. Further causing shortages in the ability of police to fulfill essential functions is the corresponding increase in training time, often to specifically to expand education in community policing techniques to improve relationships between the police and historically discriminated-against communities. Attrition rates do not seem to be significantly impacted, however.

Regardless, there is a delicate balance that must be maintained between improving the qualifications of and the training for modern police officers vs. simply increasing numbers. Recruiting from historically-discriminated against communities might be beneficial for improving force diversity, for example but to ensure that recruits are qualified it may be necessary to offer financial assistance if it is desired that all police officers have an associates or baccalaureate degree. Also, a shift in focusing on quality vs. quantity of members of the force may be necessary in terms of using financial and technological resources more effectively (Hiring and keeping, 2004, NIJ: 5). The ability to be culturally sensitive, to use technology, and to engage in creative-problem solving techniques are all necessary to improve the efforts of modern policing and to ensure an effective community response.

• The article was specific to police officers. Do the same recruitment guidelines apply to other criminal justice agencies, such as a prison? How would a recruitment strategy for prison personnel differ?

The need for a more educated corrections force is also valid: corrections officers may also need to have greater awareness of sociological concepts such as rehabilitation to ensure that they are more aware of the needs of how to structure the corrections experience for inmates and how to manage interpersonal differences between prisoners. Some of the need for technological awareness may be less acute with corrections officers but the desire to enhance knowledge and educational requirements still remains the same.

• The article you reviewed was originally published in 2004. The basic concepts regarding the recruitment of police officers remain applicable. Have there been any developments since 2004 that would change a recruitment strategy for police officers? In other words are there any new traits you would seek in recruits?