The National Police Staffing Project

Police recruitment, retention, and training, among the most difficult tasks police agencies face in the best of times, have become even more difficult in recent years. Recent contributors to these difficulties include issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and those of police legitimacy related to the George Floyd incident, the need for officers to have new skills, and the desire for agencies to diversify their forces. In other words, several longstanding issues in recruitment, retention, and training have persisted across U.S. jurisdictions, while new ones have emerged. Yet police and policymakers lack timely, systematic, or empirical data on these issues.

To address these issues, this national platform of research comprehensively and systematically examines the contemporary police staffing experience, and assesses and provides actionable lessons on the nature, changes, challenges, and strategies associated with current workforce, recruitment, selection, attrition, retention, workload, promotion, job requirements, and training needs and requirements.

The national assessment begins with a nationally representative survey of police agencies to assess the staffing landscape, including personnel budget, levels, workload, and tasks. This is complemented by focus groups of staff from state offices of police standards and training to identify and assess changes in hiring and certification standards and motivations for these. Selected for their diversity in staffing experience, size, region, partnerships, and enthusiasm to participate, case studies of participating agencies across the US will serve as benchmarks on their staffing efforts. These case studies will provide a foundation for a contextual review at the local level, involving

Recruitment assessment, including recruiter characteristics and outreach material.
Selection assessment, including agency processes, and candidate flow and characteristics.
Job assessment, including a content analysis of open positions.
Promotion assessment, including their volume, diversity, and perceived barriers.
Attrition assessment, including characteristics of those leaving the agency and why.
Retention assessment, including strategies and perceptions of those staying.
Program evaluation, including efficiency, process, and cost-effectiveness analyses.

This project will provide objective, independent, and practice-relevant knowledge and lessons to practitioners, researchers, and policy makers about the nature, changes, challenges, and solutions relative to the police staffing process, from recruitment, selection, and retention to training, promotions, and community representation.