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
The revamped patrol schedule provides efficient police staffing while also giving officers more days off to recover from stressful work
High court personnel are showing up on college campuses, military bases and other venues to try to fill some of the force’s many vacancies
NOPD officials blame a lengthy background check process and applicants applying but dropping out or being no-shows for interviews
In 2022, the sheriff’s office was down to around 19 total positions, which promoted the discontinuation of daytime patrols
The agency saw a net loss of 176 officers in 2022, with 279 sworn members leaving the agency and just 103 new hires
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant announced that the four new deputy chiefs will begin their new roles in February
Portland police hired 80 new officers in the past year, but more than half of them haven’t started due to lack of training academies
The city will now pay most NOPD officers at least the same $50 per hour wage that they had offered to the auxiliary officers
The department needs at least six police officers to staff a midnight patrol, but they currently only have two
The hope is that implementing the Citizen Online Reporting Portal will ease deputies’ heavy workload and save the county money
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