The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released a new report with recommendations to address the challenges occurring nationally regarding law enforcement recruitment and retention in local agencies.

Washington is facing historic vacancies in law enforcement as cities across the state face challenges with hiring and maintaining police officers necessary to do critical public safety work. In AWC’s 2023 City Conditions Survey, 70% of cities that responded said they expect hiring new officers to be one of their biggest challenges in the coming year, while 66% say that retaining officers and 33% say that retirements are the biggest challenge. This problem is not unique to Washington, either. A national survey in 2020 found that police departments are only filling about 93% of budgeted positions available.

The report out of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) lists several recommendations to addressing law enforcement officer eligibility and hiring practices, training, benefits and incentives, work-life balance and officer wellness, diversity, equity, and inclusion, agency culture, law enforcement image, and pipeline programs.

Here are a few recommendations from the report. Check out the full report.

• Analyze communities’ needs by engaging with the community through interviews, town halls, and online forums to analyze community needs and ask whether current and future employees meet those needs. Refine job descriptions to match findings.
• Modernize eligibility requirements to reflect the wider variety of tasks that officers may have experienced in the past like rendering emergency aid or working with co-responders to address a behavioral health or substance use crisis.
• Streamline hiring process to eliminate unnecessary administrative steps.
• Reimagine academy training to accurately reflect officers’ day-to-day duties and include community partners (check out page 11 of the report where the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission is cited as an effective updated style of law enforcement training).
• Evaluate retirement options and bonuses, and consider additional incentives like paid time off, expanded healthcare, and tuition reimbursement.
• Prioritize work-life balance and officer wellness and consider expanding childcare access, examining shift schedules, and addressing comprehensive wellness.
• Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion to ensure that officers represent the communities they serve and possess the cultural knowledge to effectively engage with the public.
• Change the culture of your department by conducting an in-depth cultural assessment and adopting a zero-tolerance policy toward discrimination and harassment.
• Improve law enforcement image by focusing on the purposes of policing – the opportunity that policing offers to join a noble profession that has a real impact on community and serves a higher purpose and identify partners to help.
• Invest in pipeline programs to help recruit new officers and improve youth perception of law enforcement careers.

Read the full report.