WASHINGTON — As U.S. police departments seek to weather an exodus of disgruntled officers and a sudden drop in applications, they are luring recruits with some tactics that a football coach would use. can be used to win a highly rated midfielder.
In Fairfax County, Va., a suburb of Washington, prospective officers are being held a “signing day” ceremony where they officially accept job offers.
Out-of-state residents looking to join the police force in Louisville, Ky., are being flown in for an entrance test, checked into a hotel, and paired with an officer to accompany them.
On the West Coast, some agencies offer bonuses of tens of thousands of dollars to attract officials from other ministries to transfer.
The economics of law enforcement have long slanted in favor of the police department, which often has more qualified applicants than job openings. No more. The number of people wanting to become police officers has plummeted since the start of the pandemic, and the 2020 unrest has provided extraordinary leverage for job seekers, forcing departments to market themselves in new ways.
“The game has clearly changed,” said Marcus Jones, sheriff in Montgomery County, Md.
Calls for radical overhaul of controls and diverting resources to other agencies, heard during the nationwide protests following the 2020 killing of George Floyd, have cooled. But sheriffs say they are still grappling with the fallout from those months.
At a recent conference in Washington organized by the Police Operations Research Forum, a law enforcement policy organization, officials from departments across the country said they were struggling. They say they don’t find enough people willing and able to fight crime, staff no shifts and build people’s trust in the police.
“I needed an officer who would actually be an outreach worker, but also be able to respond to that active shooter,” said Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz. His department has lost hundreds of officers in the wake of the 2020 unrest, in his city including a so-called autonomous region and a police station that the department had vacated for weeks.
Sheriff Diaz said that many of the officers leaving felt unappreciated by politicians and the public, especially at a time when “Defund the Police” became a major topic of political discussion. . Some of the departing officers accepted signing bonuses to join suburban departments; Others quit the profession altogether. While Seattle currently offers a separate $30,000 bonus for officers serving elsewhere who move to the city, as well as a $7,500 signing bonus for new hires, Sheriff Diaz said recruiting remains difficult. New police officers in Seattle sword about $83,000 annually after they graduate from the academy, while officers with transfer experience earn more than $90,000 a year to start.
Governor Ron DeSantis and his administration
Officer shortages are occurring during the realignment of the US economy. Low unemployment, many job opportunities and the rise of remote work have encouraged people in many fields to seek higher wages, new career paths or more time off. more for the family. And in the police industry, many departments have faced a situation where many officers are approaching retirement age.
But there is broad consensus among sheriffs that the decline in law enforcement talent is directly, though not solely, related to the killing of Mr. Floyd by Minneapolis police and Protests and unrest spread afterwards.
“It’s not just what happened in Minneapolis — it’s been felt across the country in an unprecedented way,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. He added: “I think that has consequences, for potential candidates or current police officers who are rethinking what it means to be a cop in America today.”
There is no comprehensive, real-time federal data on police employment. One survey Of the 184 police departments conducted by Mr Wexler’s organization this year, the number of resignations in 2021 is 43 per cent higher than in 2019 and the retirement rate is 24 per cent higher. Hiring fell significantly in those divisions over the same two-year period, although there are more new hires in 2021 than in 2020. Many of those trends will continue this year. , the director said in interviews.
Brandon Buskey, director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said cities looking for new officers should consider using public safety programs that don’t involve police.
Mr Buskey said he was disappointed with the “return to the police-based status quo” since the 2020 protests, as tough rhetoric about crime overwhelms some protesters’ most extensive calls to overhaul law enforcement, root out systemic racism, and rethink spending on public safety.
“That’s exactly the conversation we need to be in: Does the difficulties with retention and hiring mean we should be looking at how we actually provide safety and how we can help,” Mr. Buskey said. Best use of public dollars. “Is it rehiring those officers, or is it thinking about a consistent housing program or thinking about an alternative mental health crisis response?”
Since the unrest, many cities have stepped up efforts to send social workers instead of armed officers to certain mental health emergencies or introduce policing programs. new community. But even in places that have seen some of the biggest protests in 2020 and are seen as the most ambitious plans to divert spending from or even disband police departmentsAgencies are currently scrambling to recruit and retain officers.
In Minneapolis, where residents rejected a proposal last year to replace their police department, and as police headcount plummets, the City Council recently approved a $7,000 withholding payment to officers who stay on the force. In San Francisco, where job opportunities abound, police recruiters are having more success with middle-aged applicants looking for a career change. And in Baltimore, Commissioner Michael Harrison said a flight of officers to suburban departments created a vicious cycle, with fewer city officers being asked to do more in already difficult conditions. .
“We have to make up for the difference of officers not being there: We want good response times; Mr. Harrison said. He added: “Sometimes we have to make them do it, sometimes cancel their day off to get them to do it. And it’s a mental buster.
Widespread employment opportunities and fierce competition for recruitment have forced some intense discussions about how officers are recruited and the requirements they must meet. Some departments have sought to streamline lengthy and opaque registration processes that once took months. Others have revisited longstanding hiring policies that have weeded out people who have used marijuana in the past or have low credit scores – policies they say could be hugely damaging to applicants. single non-white. Some departments have modified the fitness requirements to exclude other qualified women.
In Akron, Ohio, dozens of officer jobs remain vacant as the city deals with fallout from the deadly disaster. shoot dead Jayland Walkera 25-year-old black man was shot dozens of times by officers earlier this year. Protesters flooded the streets of Akron for days during the summer, calling for a change of department and criminal charges against him. officers opened fire. The investigation is still open.
“It throws the organization off balance,” Sheriff Stephen Mylett said of the long wait to find out if those officers will be prosecuted. “And that is something that we have to overcome together. It’s just a tough time right now in Akron.
Sheriff Mylett said staffing in his city has reached crisis levels. He said the department has been successful in diversifying its applicant pool, with a higher proportion of female and white applicants seeking police jobs, but the total number of people employed is still too low. To help, he removed the longstanding ban on bearded officers, despite some personal apprehensions.
Sheriff Mylett said: “I come to the generation of cops where you don’t have a beard. He added: “The officers wanted that, and we lost qualified candidates because we don’t allow beards.”
Not every department faces hiring problems. John Clair, police chief in Marion, Va., in the rural southwest of the state, said his agency has successfully recruited officers in part because of strong public support and focus. focus on quality of life. In Clearwater, Fla., Sheriff Daniel Slaughter said the increase in the number of resignations was largely offset by a large influx of officers from other states, many of whom were looking for a primary environment. more pro-police. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, was full of praise for the law enforcement and signed a bill. $5,000 bonus for police recruits.
But elsewhere in the country, departments continue to struggle. In New York CityResignation rates are as high as they have been for at least the past 20 years, with many officers leaving to take on better-paying patrol jobs in smaller cities. Kevin Davis, mayor of Fairfax County, Va., said the current job market has made departments think differently about how they hire, unlike previous periods when “there was a long line of applicants. get out the door and hang around.”
Fairfax County has relaxed its rules on hairstyles and tattoos and paid bonuses to new officers.
But more than anything, Sheriff Davis said, recruiters are trying to develop a personal relationship with potential candidates in the hope that they will choose to become an officer, and will choose the department. their divisions instead of other agencies are also signing bonuses and perks.
“The big picture, we have to find a way to inspire young people to want to do this hard, hard work,” he said. “It’s still the greatest job in the world.”
