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Introduction
This information becomes somewhat devastating when a law enforcement supervisor starts exploring new strategies of recruitment to draw a number of applicants. Now in the time of shortage how will it be possible to attract applicants? The other questions arise as how they will retain personnel or should they change their recruiting strategies to compete with non-police associations? These are the main emerging problems that required to be addressed.
Military call-ups, struggle for competent applicants, confined budget crises, shifting work preferences and above of all, baby-boom-generation retirements among young generations aggravated this challenge in a time of increased crime and homeland security demands (Doerner, 1995). According to Bruce Taylor from the Police Executive Research Forum, witnessed reports of declined number of recruits in the 1990s by various law enforcement agencies. Explicit causes were mentioned for this decrease that includes the amplified struggle for the private sector. -Especially, opportunities from the strong financial systems in that time and a negative coverage of police work by media highly impacted the situation (Wilson & Grammich, 2009). The violent crimes are much aggressive than property crime and are sufficiently costly to justify the mandatory investment and expenditure of additional police officers (Chalfin & McCrary, 2013). Police Officers face various things and are stressed by countless things that also include the pressures from their supervisors, their families, fellow officers, and from the general public at large scale. Numerous other aspects such as irregular sleep schedules, low salary and conflict with family and friends also influence their day to day life. Recruitment of skilled and qualified applicants in a law enforcement career has usually been a trouble-free task for agencies, but to retain them is much tough task. Up till now, most of the police agencies have not felt the need to use inventive or innovative retention strategies, but according to statistics it has become necessary to think over it (Gordon, 2004). The requirement of better management and the use of diversity in the police workforce were acknowledged by Industry Task Force. It is addressed that lack of leadership and management skillfulness is one of the biggest challenges that many organizations are facing today. This lack of leadership leaves adverse effects on their growth, performance and efficacy (McMurray, Karim, & Fisher, 2010).
This study dwells into the matter on how to retain Police Officer in a police agency. The key dependent and key independent variables are identified, and measurement validity is performed by looking into the existing literature and other studies.
Dependent Variable
Changing Expectations & Other Opportunities
Generational preferences of the officers have an impact on the attrition rate of police agencies. The younger generations of work force are thought to have less commitment to the organization than their elder counterparts, and many of them even change careers rather than sticking to one career path. These changing expectations and preferences of police force and availability of opportunities with improved economic conditions is causing attrition and thereby making it difficult for agencies to retain their officers. A validity measurement for this variable is done by analyzing various literatures, journals and information from prior studies done on the important subject.
Independent Variables
Inflation & Police Officer Needs
A decrease in the financial assistance from the agencies in order to cover the salaries of police officers has by and large contributed to low retention rates and high attrition. Failure to provide competitive salaries, benefits and increasing social needs of the police officers has impacted the attrition rate. Fresh and senior staff both are moving towards better opportunities in terms of compensation and quality of life. A validity measurement for this independent variable is done by analyzing various literatures, journals and empirical data from previous studies done by various researchers. Inflation has had a major impact on the policies of police agencies in deciding the compensation of their officers and giving other benefits. The increasing needs of police officers are another contributing factor for the decision to leave current organization and move elsewhere. Both of these factors impact the changing expectations of police officers and also make them look out for better and other opportunities within their existing organizations or into different organizations.
Measurement Validity
Various sources have been undertaken to research on the topic. Articles, research studies, Professional journals and the World Wide Web were used to search for related work on the topic. An exhaustive list of all the references used is mentioned at the end of the document for the validity of all the content specified.
The changing nature of workplaces has a major impact on the dependent variable identified in this study. There is a shift towards knowledge work and different career paths that are shaping the career expectations in the police force. The emergence of “boundary-less” careers has provided the police staff an option to move between employers so as to gain competencies and knowledge that enhances their employability and skills. This shift in the expectations and availability of opportunities has added to the challenge of police agencies in terms of retaining their workforce. Researchers found in Australia, and New Zealand police agencies are not limited only to the traditional functions of law-enforcement and crime-detection. They are reshaped into, social-service referrers, knowledge brokers, problem solvers and taking up many other roles within the society. An empirical study conducted by Chalfin, & McCrary (2013) shows that much of the literature focusses on the role of police in terms of crime investigation only. According to Simmons, (2012), an example of good organizational reform is a shift in their policies keeping into focus the changing expectations of their employees.
Various researches are studies while evaluating the dependent variable “Changing Expectations & Other Opportunities”. It is found in a study that police agencies facing the attrition have spent approximately $1 billion in training to Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to stabilize the workforce (Wilson & Weiss, 2014). Attrition rates in police agencies during 1999 were not very high, and during the last decade it substantially increased. A study states that crime impacts the police agency expenditures in a given community and that in turn affects the expenditures in other neighboring communities (Koper, Moore, Maguire, & Huffer, 2001). The implementation of community policing has enhanced the responsibilities of the police agencies as they have embraced some form of community policing during the past two decades. It also leads to higher expectations from the police officers (Wilson, Dalton, Scheer & Grammich, 2010).
A review of the independent variable, “Inflation & Police Officer Needs”, found a relation between the decreasing financial support and the officer salaries, that impacted the attrition rate (Wilson & Grammich, 2009). The study further asserts on providing benefits and competitive salaries in order to reduce the attrition. The study lists down two extreme cases of its impact on retention in San Diego and New Orleans. In New Orleans, police officers after Hurricane Katrina relocated with their families to Houston by joining their same agency or another one offering higher benefits. Likewise, in San Diego, no salary hikes and uncompetitive benefits led many police officers to look out for brighter opportunities elsewhere.
An important aspect for law enforcement agencies to retaining their officers is to offer benefits packages and competitive wages (a lack of which can contribute to attrition). Police officers or any employee for that matter needs recognition, job satisfaction, connectedness, organizational commitment, and a stimulating work environment. An understanding of police officer needs by the police agencies can the agency in retaining their police officers.
In effect analysis, planning, interviews with officers and surveys about job satisfaction can support the agencies to retain their officers. Agencies can also reduce the attrition by giving beneficial feedback to existing officers and a realistic job preview to potential candidates. Agencies can retain and attract officers by improving on their compensation and job benefits. Agencies can also enhance the retention through employee engagement, involving officers in decision making and other feedback and evaluation opportunities. This method of enhancing the agency’s effectiveness by intelligent hiring and better management practices will not only better the agency’s image within employees but also within the community. Therefore, it will help in higher retention and lower attrition (Wilson, Dalton, Scheer, & Grammich, 2010).
Conclusion
Investigation on recruitment and retention is developing and yet has several important gaps. Local police agencies need to discover more knowledge that has been learned from somewhere else and implement the lessons to their precise problems.
The altering behavior of workplaces influences the dependent variable acknowledged in this study. There is a swing towards knowledge work, and different career paths have been observed that are determining the career prospect among the police force. Though the opportunities of boundary-less careers have provided the police staff a choice to move and gain competencies, but this change gave birth to a challenge for agencies of retaining their workforce.
Police agencies countenance a threefold challenge in congregating the demand for officers: abrasion is increasing, new human resources are decreasing, and the stipulation for their work is intensifying. A destabilized economy of recent years further complicates these issues, particularly recruitment and retention efforts. It has been plummeting or confining the choice of decisions for police agencies. Now it is necessary to alter the recruitment strategies with creative or modern enrollment approaches. With a shrinking labor pool, police departments will discover themselves as competing with other associations and organizations for skillful, competent and committed candidates. If law enforcement community does not modify their recruiting strategies within the agencies, filling future opportunities will turn out to be a more complicated task. References
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