By Jadon Miller
Officer morale and retention are at an all-time low in rural, small town policing — a problem that can often be traced back to leadership. Even a decade ago, departments across the nation had more applicants than they knew what to do with. Today, as hostility toward the profession has increased, applications have dwindled.
This decline has hit smaller communities especially hard, including those in rural southwest Iowa. Our department averages 10 to 15 officers when fully staffed. Even so, we struggle to find qualified applicants to fill open positions. As a result, I have seen county sheriffs and police chiefs faced with a difficult choice: hire an unqualified applicant out of necessity, or accept the risks of operating short staffed.
Neither option is tenable. Yet the public safety consequences of inaction are severe. Increased response times, officers working solo, decreased community trust and inexperienced staff all expose departments to significant liability. Chiefs and sheriffs, standing still is not an option — but what realistic action can you take?
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The false choices facing small police departments
I’ve seen some agencies bite the bullet and hire an unqualified applicant. They may be unfit for many reasons — some people simply are not cut out for the police profession. Unfortunately, departments are often not in a strong position to turn these candidates away when they are the only ones to pass testing. These hires, although a seemingly necessary evil, rarely find success.
The other option, which I have experienced personally and which is a common choice, is to run shorthanded. Not only was this dangerous for us young officers, as we constantly had to work alone, it ruined department morale. We were discouraged from being proactive and doing the job we loved because it would force overtime. If we wanted time off, it was frowned upon — if not outright denied — because the city would not have coverage. I remember not even calling in sick out of guilt, knowing how short we were.
These work environments led many of us to burnout, and we started jumping ship, making the staffing shortage even worse.
To make matters worse, small town rural agencies must compete with much larger agencies when recruiting new officers. Those agencies have recruiting budgets that far outweigh what small departments can afford. Trying to match their marketing power is futile. Small agencies cannot win if they play the same game as the big boys.
Our agencies must take a different route.
Retention — not recruiting — is the answer
With all of the recruiting problems facing smaller agencies, what is the alternative? The answer is simple: officer retention. If you, as the leader of a small agency, want to stop the revolving door of constantly hiring new officers, you must retain the ones you already have.
Some reasons officers leave are beyond your control. Officers move closer to family or chase higher salaries and opportunities that small agencies cannot offer. I have seen all of this, and it is not something you can fix. What smaller agencies can do is focus on what is within their control.
What you can proactively do — which I have seen done well and not so well — is foster a positive work environment and culture. A recent publication noted that “most successful agencies have found that retaining officers requires ensuring the department is a place where officers want to work.” If you want to keep your young officers around, you have to make the department a place where officers love showing up every day. Let me say that again: your job, as the administrator of your department, is to make your place of work desirable over anywhere else.
Why young officers disengage
Let me start with what many of us have experienced. In a previous position, I tried to save the department money by suggesting a change to our cite-and-release procedures, only to be told, “That’s just not how we do things here.” Some of us tried to address a growing drug problem with innovative solutions, only to be scolded for doing things that “were not our practice” or for causing overtime.
When we presented new case law that changed how investigations should be handled, we were dismissed and told it didn’t apply to us. When we collectively proposed schedule changes for better work-life balance, we were shut down because it was “just the way things had always been.”
The worst part was that none of us trusted department leadership to support us during a critical incident. Our ideas were shut down, and we felt unsupported.
This department had effectively told us to “get in line.” That style of leadership may have worked decades ago, but it doesn’t work anymore. Faced with it, many of us began looking for agencies that would actually support us. Most of us are still in the area — we’re just working somewhere else.
Put simply for agency leaders: if you don’t have our backs, why should we stay?
Six ways leaders can rebuild trust and morale
To instill confidence and trust in the young officers who work for you, it truly starts with you — the administration. You must make active changes to promote officer morale, as no one else can. This can be done by being a leader who doesn’t rule over officers, but serves them. This servant leadership approach can be broken down into six distinct factors:
1. Values people: When a young officer approaches you with an innovative policy change or a case law update, do you listen and honestly consider the idea? Or do you meet them with hostility, saying, “We’ve just always done it this way”? This response is demoralizing to young officers who are trying to improve themselves and the department. You don’t even have to make the change — most just want to be heard.
2. Develops people: I’ll be honest: young officers love this job. We want to attend trainings, make meaningful arrests and do work that matters. That’s why we applied to your agency in the first place. Your role is to support that motivation by helping officers grow in areas that interest them — whether that’s community engagement, drug interdiction, impaired driving or something else. Training may complicate scheduling in the short term, but it builds loyalty and performance in the long run.
3. Builds community: Camaraderie matters. When officers enjoy working together — and respect their leadership — they are more likely to stay. An open-door policy, casual check-ins and genuine conversations go a long way in building that sense of belonging.
4. Demonstrates authenticity: Young officers become disengaged when they don’t understand where the department is headed. Are you open about challenges and decisions, or does leadership feel distant and opaque? Honest communication builds trust, even when the message isn’t easy.
5. Shows up as a leader: Servant leadership doesn’t mean absence. Leaders still need to be present and visible. When was the last time you checked in with a night shift officer? Small actions like that signal to officers that they matter.
6. Shares leadership: Letting go of some authority can be uncomfortable, but delegation shows trust. Involve younger officers in community events, projects or even hiring processes. They may bring perspectives you haven’t considered — and they’ll feel invested in the department’s success.
Why servant leadership pays off
These leadership characteristics stand in sharp contrast to the agencies many of us are leaving. We are used to the autocratic, “get in line” style of leadership that causes us to lose our love for the job. Because morale plays such a critical role in retention, adopting servant leadership practices is essential to keeping officers long term.
One fear small agencies often have about investing heavily in younger officers is that we may leave when offered higher pay or greater opportunity. And while that does happen, what is often overlooked is how this investment still benefits the department in the long run. Yes, the agency will miss that officer it invested in. However, in departments that practice servant leadership, I have seen departing officers actively recruit to fill open positions. We loved working for that administration because our aspirations were supported and valued. Even when we leave, we will recruit for your department — at no cost to you.
As a young officer in a small department, I genuinely want to see these agencies succeed in staffing and retention. If you, as a leader, choose to maintain the status quo of autocratic leadership, your department will continue to bleed young officers. We won’t leave because of higher pay, but because we felt unsupported. Ultimately, this becomes a public safety issue. You, the leader of your small department, must adopt servant leadership practices to retain your officers — who in turn help maintain a safe community. Remember, if you have our backs, we will have yours.
References
Bowman B. (2023). Law enforcement faces staffing shortages across Iowa. KCCI Des Moines.
McLean K, Cherry T, Alpert GP. (2023). Recruiting for change: Shifting focus to address a workforce crisis. Police Practice & Research, 24(4), 446–460.
Police Executive Research Forum. (2023). Responding to the staffing crisis: Innovations in recruitment and retention.
Yang PM. (2023). Servant leadership: The impact on employee job satisfaction in law enforcement. Journal of Leadership, Accountability & Ethics, 20(4), 1–56, pp. 24–25.
About the author
Jadon Miller is a patrolman with the Red Oak Police Department in Red Oak, Iowa, where he has worked since 2023. He graduated the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in January 2021. To continue seeking out professional education, Jadon is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Toccoa Falls College, double majoring in Business Administration and Bible & Theology, having plans to graduate at the end of spring 2027. Jadon specializes in community engagement and affairs, impaired driving enforcement, and case law/legal research and studies.
