Research for Practice 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

National Institute of Justice 

Hiring and Keeping Police Officers 

JULY 04 

 COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 
This and other publications and products 

found at: 

of the National Institute of Justice can be 

National Institute of Justice 

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U.S. Department of Justice 

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Washington, DC 20531 

John Ashcroft 

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Deborah J. Daniels 

Assistant Attorney General 

Sarah V. Hart 

Director, National Institute of Justice 
AUG. 04 

Hiring and Keeping Police Officers 

Findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the 

authors and do not reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. 

Department of Justice, the Urban Institute, or the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. 

This summary report is based on the full technical report by Christopher S. 

Koper, Edward R. Maguire, and Gretchen E. Moore, Hiring and Retention 

Issues in Police Agencies: Readings on the Determinants of Police 

Strength, Hiring and Retention of Officers, and the Federal COPS Program, 

Research Report, Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, October 2001, NCJ 

193428. Available on the Web site of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/193428.pdf. 

The study was supported by National Institute of Justice grant 

99–IJ–CX–0011 with funds from the Office of Community Oriented Policing 

Services. Additional support was provided by the Jerry Lee Center of 

Criminology of the University of Pennsylvania. 

NCJ 202289 
RESEARCH FOR PRACTICE / JULY 04 

ABOUT THIS REPORT 

After several years of growth 

in police employment, fueled 

in part by Federal grants, 

police agencies now say it is 

hard to find qualified applicants. An NIJ-sponsored 

study also found that most 

recruits successfully complete their training, although 

training is taking longer 

because of the growing 

complexity of police work. 

Retaining new hires is a concern, because they account 

for many of the officers who 

leave police agencies each 

year. 

What did the 

researchers find? 

■	 As a result of Federal funding and demands for service, slightly more than 

half the Nation’s police 

agencies grew in officer 

strength during the late 

1990s. However, in about 

20 percent of police agencies (mostly small ones), 

officer strength declined, 

often as a result of fiscal or 

recruitment problems. 

■	 Most agencies with Federal 

hiring funds keep the positions after the grants expire. 

■	 Continued growth in hiring 

may not be sustainable at 

recent rates. By 1999, 

more than half of actively 

hiring agencies had difficulty finding enough qualified 

applicants. 

■	 Screening and training new 

officers typically took 8 to 

11 months. 

■	 Nine out of ten recruits 

completed their training. 

■	 Many officers leaving their 

agencies in 1999 had 

served only a few years, 

and many left one law 

enforcement agency to 

work for another. 

What were the study’s 

limitations? 

The study did not include historical data that could show 

whether recent patterns differ from earlier patterns, and 

it did not examine specific 

practices in hiring, training, 

and retaining officers. 

Who should read this 

study? 

Police managers and executives involved in recruiting, hiring, and retaining 

officers; elected officials and 

policymakers responsible for 

public safety; teachers of 

police management courses; 

and policing scholars. 

ii 
HIRING AND KEEPING POLICE OFFICERS 

by Christopher S. Koper 

Hiring and Keeping Police Officers 

About the Author 

Christopher S. Koper, 

Ph.D., is a research 

associate at the Jerry Lee 

Center of Criminology 

at the University of 

Pennsylvania. 

In the wake of rising crime 

rates of the late 1980s and 

early 1990s, Congress passed 

the Violent Crime Control and 

Law Enforcement Act of 

1994. This omnibus legislation 

included the Public Safety 

Partnership and Community 

Policing Act (establishing the 

“COPS” program), which 

provided funding to put 

100,000 additional police on 

the Nation’s streets. Approximately 61,000 of these officers were funded through 

hiring grants made to State 

and local police agencies. The 

rest were funded through 

grants for technology and civilians that enabled agencies to 

put more of their officers in 

the field and keep officers in 

the field for longer periods. 

To help plan, manage, and 

assess the COPS program, 

and to provide information for 

police practitioners and scholars, the National Institute of 

Justice (NIJ), at the request 

of the Office of Community 

Oriented Policing Services 

(COPS Office), examined the 

recent experiences of police 

agencies nationwide in hiring 

and retaining sworn officers. 

The NIJ study, conducted by 

the Urban Institute, looked at 

what determines the size of 

police agencies; the amount 

of time it takes to hire, train, 

and deploy officers and the 

problems encountered in 

doing so; officers’ length of 

service at an agency and reasons for leaving; and whether 

positions initially funded with 

Federal grants were retained 

after the grants expired. 

Most agencies grew 

during the late 1990s 

Slightly more than half of 

police agencies grew in officer 

strength1 from 1996 to 1999, 

while most of the rest maintained their staffing levels. 

The availability of grant money 

and concerns about crime, 

calls for service, and population size drove much staffing 

growth during the period. 

For the minority of agencies 

whose staffing levels declined, fiscal constraints and 

a lack of qualified recruits 

were contributing factors. 

However, emerging patterns 

could change this overall 

upward trend in staffing. 

1 
RESEARCH FOR PRACTICE / JULY 04 

Finding qualified 

applicants 

The supply of good police 

recruits was down throughout the Nation during the 

summer of 2000. More than 

half of small agencies (those 

serving populations of under 

50,000) and two-thirds of 

large agencies (those serving 

populations of 50,000 or 

more) with recent vacancies 

reported that a lack of qualified applicants caused difficulties in filling those slots. 

Many agencies reported 

staffing problems caused by 

unanticipated vacancies. 

Agencies that had difficulty 

filling open positions had 

roughly one unfilled vacancy 

for every three that were 

filled. 

What might account for 

these problems of recruitment and retention? The 

researchers did not examine 

the causes of these trends in 

detail, but there are some 

possible explanations: 

■	 The strong economy may 

have lured good candidates 

and experienced officers 

away from law enforcement into better paying 

jobs. 

■	 Increasing educational 

requirements for applicants, particularly in larger 

police agencies, may have 

restricted the number of 

recruits. This effect likely 

would have been compounded by the economy’s 

draw on prospective applicants who have a college 

education. 

■	 Some departments may be 

facing unusually high attrition as baby boomers 

retire. 

■	 Negative publicity over 

such matters as racial profiling and the excessive 

use of force may have discouraged some people 

from wanting to join the 

profession. 

■	 Increased hiring during the 

late 1990s may have contributed to the shortage by 

draining the pool of potential police applicants and 

intensifying competition 

for recruits among police 

agencies. 

2 
HIRING AND KEEPING POLICE OFFICERS 

STUDY METHODS 

The researchers used three methods to study police staffing issues: 

■ A national survey of police agencies. 

■ A critical synthesis of the literature. 

■ An analysis of police employment data. 

The telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,270 

police agencies was administered during the summer of 2000. Staff 

from the National Opinion Research Center interviewed chiefs of police 

(or their representatives) about their COPS program hires and their general practices and experiences in hiring and retention. 

Large agencies and COPS grant recipients were intentionally oversampled in the survey design; estimates were weighted as appropriate to 

provide national estimates. 

Most agencies sampled (80 percent) 

offices; less than 10 percent were university or school police, State 

police, transit police, public housing police, park police, or others. 

Sizes of agencies responding. The survey included respondents from 

553 large agencies (serving populations of 50,000 or more) and 717 

respondents from small agencies (serving fewer than 50,000). 

Grant recipients responding. Most agencies (86 percent) had received 

some type of COPS grant, and 59 percent had received COPS hiring 

grants. 

The researchers also reviewed previous studies that attempted to identify factors influencing the supply of and demand for police resources, 

measured in various ways. These studies, generally based on statistical 

modeling of variations in resources by place and time, have produced 

inconsistent findings. They therefore provide little guidance for practitioners who are trying to forecast trends, recruit candidates, and retain 

officers. 

The researchers compared retention rates for federally funded positions with historical retention patterns in police employment from 1975 

to 1994. 

Survey of Police Agencies 

Types of agencies responding. 

were municipal or county police agencies; 13 percent were sheriff’s 

Synthesis of Literature 

Analysis of Employment Data 

3 
RESEARCH FOR PRACTICE / JULY 04 

Training is taking 

longer 

The process of screening and 

testing applicants, basic/ 

academy training, and field 

training averaged 31 weeks 

in small agencies and 43 

weeks in large agencies. 

Since the mid-1990s, training 

generally has become longer 

and more complex: one-third 

of agencies reported that 

training time had increased by 

up to 3 weeks since 1995, 

while a quarter reported that it 

had increased by a month or 

more. Less than 4 percent of 

agencies reported a decrease 

in training time. 

About a third of agencies 

who said training time has 

increased believe it is at least 

partly because community 

policing requires learning 

such skills as structured problem solving that are not part 

of traditional police training. 

Most recruits 

complete the training 

Approximately three-quarters 

of agencies reported hiring 

officers during the previous 

year—an average of 4.4 

officers per agency. About 90 

percent completed their training. Of those who failed, 

most failed in the academy 

rather than in field training. 

About 12 percent of recent 

hires in large agencies and 36 

percent in small agencies 

were exempted from academy training because they 

had previous experience or 

approved preservice training 

at colleges or vocational 

schools. 

Keeping officers 

on the job 

Overall attrition rates were 

not unusually high in 1999 

(less than 8 percent), but 

unanticipated vacancies 

caused difficulty for about 

half the agencies. Retaining 

new hires seems to have 

been a significant part of this 

problem, particularly in small 

agencies, where two-thirds 

of departing officers had 

served for 5 or fewer years.2 

Half of the officers leaving 

large agencies were retirees; 

in small agencies, one-fifth 

were retirees. 

It is not clear whether keeping officers has become 

more of a problem in recent 

years. Historically, small 

4 
HIRING AND KEEPING POLICE OFFICERS 

agencies have generally had 

more difficulty retaining staff 

than large agencies. 

About 45 percent of officers 

who left small agencies and 

24 percent who left large 

agencies continued in law 

enforcement work. Whether 

this pattern has changed over 

time is not known. But these 

numbers are large enough 

to reinforce the notion that 

competition is getting 

stronger for both recruits 

and experienced officers. 

Implications for policy 

and practice 

The findings have implications for the work of police 

managers and policymakers. 

Recruiting and retaining 

officers. It is hard to say how 

long the current hiring crunch 

will continue. The Nation’s 

new concern with security is 

likely to create new personnel needs for all levels of law 

enforcement (Federal, State, 

and local) and private security. Many police recruiters and 

managers will need to assess 

the effectiveness of their 

recruiting methods and find 

ways to make working in 

their agencies more attractive. Strategies might include 

improving pay and benefits, 

recruiting officers with the 

right skills for community 

policing, changing job roles to 

enhance officers’ satisfaction, 

improving career development, 

changing residency requirements, and creating incentives 

for retirement-eligible officers 

to remain with the agency. 

Becoming more efficient. 

Greater use of technology 

and civilians can free more 

uniformed officers to work in 

the field for longer periods. 

When implemented carefully, 

this heightens police presence in the community without adding new officers and 

can enhance other aspects of 

organizational performance, 

such as solving crimes. Federal funding has encouraged 

this trend with grants for 

technology and civilian hires. 

Furthermore, research in preventing crime suggests that 

how officers are used is 

more important than how 

many officers are used. 

Police managers can maximize their effectiveness by, 

for example, concentrating 

police attention on hot spots 

that generate disproportionate amounts of crime. 

5 
RESEARCH FOR PRACTICE / JULY 04 

MOST AGENCIES ARE KEEPING COPS OFFICERS B

GRANT E

munities in the second half of the 1990s, largely through grants given to 

State and local agencies to hire new officers. 

As of the summer of 2000, about three-quarters of agencies with 

expired hiring grants had kept their funded positions—in virtually all 

cases retaining the full complement—for at least 1 to 2 years without 

are based on short-term followup data.) 

Looking ahead, 74 to 80 percent of grant recipients who have nonexpired positions expect to keep at least some of them even after they 

cies that anticipate retaining positions expect to keep them 5 years or 

more. 

Overall, staff retention rates of COPS grant recipients appear to be fairly 

consistent with the retention patterns of police agencies during the 20 

years before the program was established. Using that criterion, the hiring grants have been reasonably effective in raising police staffing levels beyond the life of the grants. 

EYOND THE 

XPIRATION 

The Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) aimed to add 100,000 police officers to the Nation’s comcutting other positions or relying on attrition. (These figures, however, 

expire. About two-thirds anticipate keeping all of them. Generally, agenSetting hiring standards 

and screening applicants. 

In the current environment, 

some agencies may feel 

pressure to lower standards 

or expedite the applicant 

screening process. Although 

higher recruiting standards, 

such as requiring a college 

degree, may contribute to 

applicant shortages, agencies 

must consider the demands 

of contemporary policing— 

including the need to work 

with new technologies, 

conduct community policing 

and problem-solving activities, and navigate complex 

legal rules—in determining 

background requirements 

and planning organizational 

strategies to attract applicants. At the same time, 

rushing the screening process to fill positions can 

have adverse consequences, 

as some departments have 

learned after suffering 

through scandals arising 

from corrupt or abusive 

6 
HIRING AND KEEPING POLICE OFFICERS 

officers who were inadequately screened and, in a 

few notable cases, had criminal records prior to their 

police service. 

Benefiting from grants. According to police officials, 

grant money was one of the 

most important factors contributing to growth in many 

police agencies and slowing 

staffing reductions in others 

during the 1990s. Federal 

money for law enforcement 

can help increase police presence on the street relatively 

quickly, lessen the immediate 

costs of staff expansion, or 

even cover the costs of new 

technology that could increase police efficiency. However, police officials should 

also consider nonfunded 

costs that may be associated 

with grants, such as the 

costs of training and equipping new officers, and of 

retaining officers beyond the 

life of the grants. 

Planning Federal funding 

strategies. Most recipients 

of Federal funding appear to 

be keeping their funded positions past the expiration of 

the grants. If, however, recruitment problems continue 

in law enforcement, grants 

that promote innovative 

strategies and the use of 

technology and civilians to 

maximize efficiency could 

become increasingly impor­ tant to practitioners. 

Recommended reading 

Goldberg, Andrew L., and 

Brian A. Reaves, Sheriffs’ Departments, 1997, Washington, 

DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, February 2000, NCJ 173428. 

Hickman, Mathew J., and 

Brian A. Reaves, Local Police 

Departments, 1999, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, May 2001, NCJ 186478. Koper, Christopher S., 

Gretchen E. Moore, and Jeffrey A. Roth, Putting 100,000 

Officers on the Street: A 

Survey-Based Assessment of 

the Federal COPS Program, Washington, DC: The Urban 

Institute (2002). 

Langworthy, Robert, Thomas 

Hughes, and Beth Sanders, 

Law Enforcement Recruitment, Selection, and Training: 

A Survey of Major Police Departments in the U.S., Highland Heights, KY: Police 

Section, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, 1995. 

7 
RESEARCH FOR PRACTICE / JULY 04 

Reaves, Brian A., and Andrew 

L. Goldberg, Local Police Departments, 1997, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

Justice, Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, February 2000, 

NCJ 173429. 

Reaves, Brian A., and Mathew J. Hickman. Sheriffs’ 

Offices, 1999, Washington, 

DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 2001, NCJ 186479. 

Roth, Jeffrey A., and Joseph 

F. Ryan, The COPS Program 

After 4 Years—National Evaluation, Research in Brief, 

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National 

Institute of Justice, August 

2000, NCJ 183644. Available at the NIJ Web site: 

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/ 

pubs-sum/183644.htm. 

Roth, Jeffrey A., et al., 

National Evaluation of the 

COPS Program—Title I of the 

1994 Crime Act, Research 

Report, Washington, DC: 

U.S. Department of Justice, 

National Institute of Justice, 

August 2000, NCJ 183643. 

Available at NIJ’s Web site: 

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/ 

pubs-sum/183643.htm. 

Notes 

1. Police strength is most commonly 

measured in terms of sworn officers, 

total police agency employees, or 

amount of police expenditures. In 

this study, police strength was 

measured as the number of sworn 

officers. 

2. In large agencies, about one-third

of departing officers left after 5 or 

fewer years of service. 

8 
The National Institute of Justice is the 

research, development, and evaluation 

agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

NIJ provides objective, independent, 

evidence-based knowledge and tools 

to enhance the administration 

of justice and public safety. 

NIJ is a component of the Office of Justice 

Programs, which also includes the Bureau 

of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, the Office of Juvenile Justice 

and Delinquency Prevention, and the 

Office for Victims of Crime. 
DOJ/NIJ *NCJ~202289* 

JULY 04 

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