A hiring process that takes months gives another department time to make an offer. An officer who sees no path to promotion may start looking elsewhere.
For agencies working to recruit and retain women, both are problems leaders can address.
IACP’s 2024 recruitment and retention survey of 1,118 U.S. agencies found more than 70% said recruiting is harder than before the pandemic. Agencies were operating at an average of 91% of authorized staffing, a 10% shortage.
During “Recruit-Retain-Develop” at IACP 2026, panelists discussed changes agencies can make, from following up with applicants who withdraw to examining who gets the assignments that prepare officers for promotion.
The panel included Tacoma Police Assistant Chief Crystal Young-Haskins; IACP Project Manager Danielle Manigault; Maria Stanley, who led a gender reform program across British Overseas Territories; and Mike Steffes, a former Wisconsin police chief who is now professional development manager for the Montrose (Colo.) PD.
Find where applicants drop out
An applicant waiting months for a hiring decision may accept another agency’s offer before your department finishes its process.
Young-Haskins discussed examining hiring bottlenecks and finding ways to move candidates through the process more quickly. Depending on the agency, that could involve reviewing civil service procedures or using an outside testing service.
Tacoma did that after the pandemic, Young-Haskins said. The city’s study found it was losing applicants during a hiring process that ran six to nine months.
Start with the department’s most recent recruiting cycle. Examine how long applicants waited between stages and where they withdrew. Follow up with those candidates to find out why they left.
Young-Haskins also urged agencies to reconsider fixed testing schedules. Someone ready to apply in October may not want to wait until December to test, she said. A rolling hiring process gives candidates a way to move forward when they express interest.
Stanley described an agency that did that outreach with women who had applied but had not continued through recruitment. Their feedback identified the fitness test as a deterrent.
The agency moved the test to the end of recruit training and offered opportunities for women to prepare together. Recruits still had to pass, but they had time and support to work toward the standard. Stanley said most passed before training ended.
“You might be losing a lot of good talent,” Stanley said, describing the risk of screening applicants out before they can demonstrate their other skills.
For chiefs, the example offers a specific question to take back to recruiting staff: Are candidates leaving because they cannot meet a job requirement, or because of how the agency introduces and assesses it?
Choose recruiting officers who can answer candidates’ questions
Young-Haskins emphasized the influence of employees who interact directly with candidates, including officers assigned to ride-alongs.
A prospective applicant may want to know how an officer balances work and family. Someone else may be interested in a specialized assignment and want to understand how to get there.
Young-Haskins said she draws on her own experience. She started in policing when her two children were 3 and 6. The officers an applicant meets can be more influential than any advertisement, she said.
Review who gets assigned to recruiting events and ride-alongs. Those employees should be able to explain the hiring process and speak candidly about working at the department. Give applicants an opportunity to talk with women whose experience relates to their questions.
That conversation can also expose a gap the agency needs to address before making its next recruiting promise.
Support people once they’re hired
“They have to feel supported once they get there,” Young-Haskins said.
She discussed lactation spaces and the staffing needed to accommodate family leave. Both require decisions beyond adopting a policy.
A department may have a designated lactation room, but employees need to be able to access it during their working hours. Leave provisions need a coverage plan so supervisors can accommodate an absence.
Ask employees who have used those policies where they encountered problems. A command staff review alone may not reveal what happens when someone needs support on a night shift.
A slide from the session recommended stay interviews and employee surveys to understand retention challenges before employees leave. Young-Haskins said agencies often assume why people leave and don’t ask. When she hears an employee has submitted a resignation, she calls the person and has asked her chief to call too. Some who leave find the grass isn’t greener and return, she said, if the agency left the door open.
Ask what is making the job difficult to continue and whether a change within the department would help. Record the concerns that require action and arrange a follow-up conversation.
One panelist described an investigator with 10 or 12 years in sex crimes who was valued for her experience but burned out. Leaders talked with her about moving to a new assignment for her own well-being.
Supervisors should be having those conversations before an officer feels the only way out of an assignment is to leave the department.
Give mentoring time and a purpose
Steffes described how informal social time with command staff can give some employees access to leadership conversations that others miss. An afternoon of golf can turn into a discussion about work. Those present learn how the chief thinks and gain advice that may help their careers. A formal mentoring program makes access less dependent on those relationships.
For an officer interested in promotion, mentoring meetings can focus on the experience needed for the next position. The mentor can help identify an appropriate assignment and explain how to pursue it.
Manigault described how IACP’s Women’s Leadership Institute connects career planning with access to women in executive roles. Participants begin a career journal outlining their one-, three- and five-year goals. Later in the week, they discuss those goals in small groups with women executives. Some leave with ongoing mentoring relationships, she said.
Young-Haskins attended as a new lieutenant in 2014. She described initially feeling uncomfortable among senior leaders, then leaving with greater confidence and professional relationships.
Agencies sending employees to development programs can build on that experience by scheduling a career discussion when they return. Use it to identify a specific opportunity to apply the training.
Review access to assignments that prepare officers for promotion
By the time an officer sits for a promotional interview, earlier assignment decisions have already shaped what she can bring to it.
Stanley described women whose caregiving responsibilities limited their availability for additional courses. Others had not received the range of assignments that would strengthen their applications.
“How can you give them those extra opportunities?” she asked.
Review the department’s recent developmental assignments alongside its promotion requirements. If a particular kind of experience helps candidates compete, examine how officers learn about those opportunities and who gets selected.
Stanley also urged leaders to review what their promotional criteria reward, including the weight given to communication skills.
Steffes described Montrose’s approach of providing development for successive career stages, with preparation for supervisory work and executive responsibilities.
An agency can make that path clearer by asking supervisors to discuss the next step with employees who want to advance. Identify the experience the employee needs, then establish who will help arrange it.
At the next command staff meeting, review whether those assignments actually happened.
