Bruce Taylor, Ph.D.

Director of Research

Police Executive Research Forum


June 17-18, 2008


PERFs National Survey on Recruiting 
and Hiring in Law Enforcement



Background


..
News headlines in the 1990s and 2000s indicated 
that many LEAswere having problems with 
recruitment and hiring (the cop crunch) 
..
Some were contending that LEAswere seeing a 
decline in new recruits/hires because of private 
sector competition, negative media coverage of 
the police, and a strong economy in the 1990s.
..
The low # of minority & women applicants has 
been a particular concern and an obstacle to 
developing agencies that are diverse and 
representative of the communities they serve.




Background (Contd)


..
Some have predicted that LEAswill continue to 
face tough times retaining officers due to 
inflexible schedules, low pay and long hours, 
and opportunities in federal law enforcement.
..
In response to this reported COP Crunch,
PERF (with NIJ funding) conducted the only 
national survey on this issue in 2002 to examine:
 Nature and extent of the cop crunch
 Identify agency & jurisdiction-level 
policies/practices that facilitate the recruiting and 
hiring of quality personnel (including 
women/minorities)
 While the PERF data is old  
it is worth exploring 
for no other national data of this type is available







Methods: National Survey


..
National survey and follow-up phone interviews
..
Survey of ~ 1,000 local LEAs(sheriffs/PDs) in 2002
..
Stratified/random sample of LEAsacross the U.S.
 Population was divided into strata based upon 
agency size, agency type, and geography



..
Survey items covered recruitment/hiring issues
..
The survey response rate (just under 50%) was 
lower than expected (PERF usually gets 70+%).
 Non-response analysis suggested that the impact 
of low response on our substantive results was 
minimal, but this is a potential limitation of this 
study







Findings: Recruitment efforts


..
Scarcity of resources available for recruitment
..
With the exception of the State PDs& larger LEAs(>500 officers), only a small % of LEAshave a 
permanent recruitment unit. The smaller LEAsmore typically had either one full-time recruiter or 
some part-time recruiters.
..
Most LEAshad fairly modest budgets for 
recruiting (little beyond recruiter personnel) -e.g., 
most LEAsdont provide awards for officers that 
refer successful applicants. 
..
Most common recruitment methods included 
newspaper ads, career fairs and Internet.




Recruitment efforts


..
Majority of LEAsdo not engage in joint recruitment 
effortswith other LEAs
..
Only about half of the LEAsuse one of their own police 
programs (e.g., SROs) as a means to recruit young 
people, with the larger agencies reporting greater use of 
this approach than the smaller agencies. The police 
programs most commonly utilized for this purpose 
across all agencies were college internships, explorer 
programs, and school resource officers. 
..
The most commonly targeted group were those with 
previous police experience, followed by college grads, 
racial/ethnic minorities and women.




Application procedures:


..
Another factor related to problems potentially associated 
with hiring problems is the application procedures in 
place for hiring officers.
..
The larger LEAshave a more lengthy process from the 
submission of an application to the acceptance of an 
offer of employment.
..
The bulk of responding LEAsindicted that they accept 
applications continuously or only when a vacancy exists, 
as opposed to a particular schedule (e.g., onceper year). 
..
Most LEAsdid not require individuals to submit their 
applications at LEAsor other government facilities. 
..
Most LEAsdid not supply applicants with study 
materials to help them prepare for tests and other 
selection procedures




Requirements for recruits


..
Most LEAsrequire applicants to be:
 A U.S. citizen
 Have a drivers license
 Have a High School diploma
 Meet minimum vision requirements
 No criminal record
 No dishonorable discharge from armed forces. 





..
Most LEAsdid not require that applicants or 
sworn officers live in the agency service area




Selection procedures


..
The first procedures to take place in the selection 
process for the vast majority of LEAswas a civil 
service exam/written entrance exam. 
..
Although the precise order may differ, the data 
indicates that subsequent steps include
 A criminal record check
 Fitness test
 Assessment center and practical tests.
 Medical exam
 Psychometric test
 Interview with psychologist
 Drug test 







Benefits and salary for recruits


..
The vast majority of all agencies:
 Paid their recruits a salary during training
 Offered a uniform allowance or provided a uniform
 Paid the tuition for recruit training at an external 
academy/school
 Offered salary increases for college degrees and/or 
had take-home cars. 



..
Base starting salary was generally higher in the 
larger LEAs. However, agencies with 501 or 
more officers were an exception to this, with the 
second lowest base starting.
..
Most LEAsindicated that they allowed officers 
to work overtime/work secondary employment




Comparison of PERF survey results (2002) to the 
Strawbridge and Strawbridge (1989) results


..
The PERF survey included key questions related 
to recruitment and selection developed by 
Strawbridge and Strawbridge (1990) 
..
PERF survey was sent, not only to a stratified 
random sample of 2,138 agencies, but also to the 
72 agencies previously surveyed in 1990 by the 
Strawbridges. 
..
The survey of these 72 agencies produced a 
follow-up wave of longitudinal data for the 
large agencies previously studied.




Comparison of PERF survey results (2002) to the 
Strawbridge and Strawbridge (1989) results


..
During the intervening 13 years, the average 
number of officers per capita significantly 
increased, with more minorities and females are 
working in law enforcement in 2002 compared 
to 1989 (indicating that the trends discovered by 
Langworthyet al., 1994 have continued).
..
We did not find sufficient evidence to either 
support or to reject the existence of the much 
discussed Cop Crunch. 
..
Mean number of applicants in 1989 was 3,113 
compared to 1,949 applicants in 2002. Although 
there appears to be a substantial decrease, the 
change was not statistically significant.




Strawbridge comparison results are 
also similar to other data


..
Also, DOJ stats on hiring trends 
demonstrate that from 1996-2000, only 
22% of agencies nationwide experienced 
a reduction in force, while the majority 
either remained stable or grew (BJS, 
2000)
..
Another study reveals that from 1996-
1999 slightly more than 50% of agencies 
grew in size while the rest remained 
level (Koper, 2004)




Limitations of comparison with Strawbridges


..
Small common sample (n=32) included in 
the PERF and Strawbridge's studies to test 
the cop crunch hypothesis. 
..
With a sample of only 32 LEAscontaining 
both 1989 & 2002 data, even our large 
difference was not statistically significant. 
..
Therefore, our observed drop of 1,164 
applicants between 1989 and 2002 could 
have been statistically significant if we 
observed the same pattern with a larger 
sample.




Comparison of PERF survey results (2002) to the 
Strawbridge and Strawbridge (1989) results


..
Despite non-significant findings, there were a # 
of LEAsin our comparative study that did have 
fewer applicants in 2002 compared to 1989, 
suggesting that some LEAsare having difficulty 
attracting applicants & are under a crunch.
..
Also, a noticeable minority of agencies (> than 
10%) have severe shortages, that is less than 90% 
of their sworn positions were filled on Jan.2002. 
..
Some agencies are having significant difficulty 
in maintaining staffing levels, with somewhat 
greater problems appearing with the smallest 
and the very largest LEAs.




Attracting and Hiring Applicants (1989 vs 
2002)


..
Positive shifts in targeted recruiting strategies for:
 Minorities
 Women
 Military veterans
 Four-year college grads
 People with prior police service 



..
However, problems were still observed in hiringqualifiedfemale and minorityapplicants across 
all agency sizes, with relatively few individuals 
from these groups applying.
..
While most of theLEAswere able to draw 
sufficient # of applicants, the LEAswith > 500 
officers had significant problems drawing 
sufficient qualifiedapplicants.




Applicant screening (1989 vs 
2002) 
has not changed much, except):


..
Fewer LEAshave:
 Residency requirements
 Written test 
requirements
 Intelligence test requirements
 Requirements for a clean criminal 
record(except increases were observed with 
regard to drug testing)



..
Screening and hiring process still takes on 
average six months from time of application to 
employment
..
Police salaries have not kept pace with inflation 
from 1989 to 2002




Follow-up Phone Interviews


..
A subset of agencies participated in follow-up 
interviews on specific comprehensive and 
effective recruitment/hiring programs and 
specific innovative strategies.
..
Survey data used to identify 60 LEAsthat (1) are 
effective in recruiting/hiring generally, (2) are 
effective in recruiting and/or hiring women 
and/or ethnic minorities, and/or (3) report 
innovative strategies that promote hiring. 
..
Interviews done w/ relevant personnel in the 60 
LEAsto characterize the programs/practices that 
are linked to hiring successes




Promising practices in recruiting women and 
minorities - 
based on phone interviews


..
Direct recruiting at events geared towards 
women and minorities (e.g., trade shows)
..
Recruiting at womens fitness 
clubs/athletic events
..
Use of local advisory committees and task 
forces to determine effective local ways to 
recruit women and minorities
..
LEA has a commitment to increasing 
opportunities for female/minority 
officers, so female & minority recruits can 
see fellow females/minorities in higher 
positions




Promising practices in recruiting women and 
minorities (Contd)


..
Partnering with minority organizations 
(e.g, NAACP)
..
Inviting different minority groupsonto a 
task force, and then using a person of each 
group to recruit fellow minorities (e.g., a 
Hispanic member would go out into the 
Hispanic community to help find places to 
advertise and recruit; an Asian member 
would do the same for the Asian 
community, etc.)




Contact Information


Bruce Taylor

Police Executive Research Forum

Director of Research 

1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Suite 930

Washington, D.C., 20036-3923

(Office) 202-466-7820

(Direct line) 202-454-8318

(Fax) 202-466-7826

btaylor@policeforum.org

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