From attracting qualified candidates and telling an authentic agency story to streamlining hiring processes and building long-term career pathways, departments are rethinking how they recruit and retain the next generation of officers. Police Recruitment Week explores how agencies are modernizing recruitment, with practical insights for leaders navigating staffing shortages, community expectations and the realities of building a sustainable workforce.
What the data and the field reveal about where agencies lose candidates and how to keep them
FEATURED CONTENT
A practical, agency-wide framework that turns every sworn and civilian employee into an active recruiting force
Agencies relying on bonuses and short-term tactics may see temporary gains but lasting staffing stability comes from strategies that improve retention, reputation and community trust
A customized childcare model built for law enforcement families aims to improve retention, boost morale and deliver measurable return on investment
Integrating civilians, structured internet sleuth programs, artificial intelligence and regional partnerships may be the key to sustaining clearance rates in the 21st century
Facing staffing shortages and rising complexity, departments like Atlanta are expanding civilian leadership and professional staff roles to stabilize operations, modernize capabilities and relieve pressure on sworn officers
From paperwork to people skills, seasoned cops offer hard-earned advice for the next generation
If you’re losing applicants, stretching hiring timelines or watching academy classes shrink, this guide outlines what agencies are doing to rebuild their staffing pipeline
COMPLETE COVERAGE
A recruitment report will suggest initiating high school and college pipeline programs, as well as modernizing the recruitment process for faster onboarding
Successful recruitment in the 21st century requires an authentic approach to connect with each candidate instead of following a checklist of things to do and incentives to offer
The Lafayette PD uses technology like video game engines to train on consequence management, drones in the sky and a digital coaching platform
In an effort to fill vacancies, city officials gave dispatcher salaries a boost in July; as a result, the PD hired 26 new dispatchers
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office would also have retention bonuses of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, based upon years of service, as well as a $5,000 new hire incentive
“Big thanks to Shaq for his continued support for law enforcement and spending time with his old police department. It was great to see him back in our uniform!” the Port Police said
The incentives to join the Antioch PD are structured over five years, with $15,000 paid upfront along with other incentives as a way to recruit officers
Cadets will receive a pay bump from $16 to $24 an hour; the city will also offer incentives to cadets who either graduated from college or served in the military
An advisory council suggested reducing the time requirement for a recruit to not have consumed marijuana within 12 months and three years for drugs
“The harsh reality is, I don’t want to be the guy working 80 hours a week just running this PD, being on call 24 hours a day,” Chief Smith said
ABOUT THE SPONSOR: eSOPH by Miller Mendel
With a primary focus of turning past practices used by city, county, state and federal government agencies into modern, efficient, and cost-effective digital solutions, Miller Mendel (MMI) has been creating category-leading systems since 2011.
eSOPH by Miller Mendel is a secure, cloud-based, pre-employment background investigation software system designed specifically for public safety agencies. Used by hundreds of agencies nationwide, eSOPH has been credited with cutting the time it takes to process a pre-employment background investigation by up to 50%, saving agencies significant time, money, and resources without sacrificing investigation quality.
eSOPH by Miller Mendel is a secure, cloud-based, pre-employment background investigation software system designed specifically for public safety agencies. Used by hundreds of agencies nationwide, eSOPH has been credited with cutting the time it takes to process a pre-employment background investigation by up to 50%, saving agencies significant time, money, and resources without sacrificing investigation quality.
How to use recruitment messaging and leverage new technology to attract, hire, onboard and retain top talent