Supply And Demand for Police Officers
Labor Demand
Labor demand involves the need for employees in a particular job market to complete a specific job (Keeley, 2013). Several factors influence the labor demand when it comes to the department of police. One of the primary factors includes the need to reduce the crime rates by heightening the number of officers patrolling in areas regarded as the high-crime areas. The high rates of crime mean that more police officers will be required to enhance safety and effectively deal with potential criminals. The second principle factor that influences labor demand is the urge to reduce the exorbitant overtime paid to the current police officers. Instead of spending excessive amounts of money paying particular officers who work for extra works, it would be imperative to hire extra employees and spread the wages equally to the rest of the policing staff. Thirdly, the labor demand in the police sector will be driven by the need to recruit officers who are in line with the goal of the department.
Labor Supply
Similar to demand, labor supply in the police department is also influenced by several vital factors. A critical factor affecting the labor supply includes the strategies within the referral plan program. Labor supply might be needed in case the current police officers are not meeting the departmental goals. It can be challenging to recruit police officers due to the preexisting issues in the workforce such as high taxes, the high cost of living, and other environmental factors that an individual can consider before finally settling on their position. Secondly, labor supply in this department will be influenced by the high costs of the private and public colleges and universities in the country. With most departments having to recruit candidates from these institutions, it becomes difficult since the employers demand higher in terms of wages (Terwiesch & Cachon, 2012). Thirdly, environmental extremes especially when adverse climates can make it increasingly difficult to find new recruits willing to adjust to the conditions. A cold winter and hot summer climate, for instance, is not an ideal climate that an individual would want to relocate to.
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Recruitment Plan for Police Officers
Three recruitment objectives
The first recruitment objective is to hire individuals from specified demographics. The department requires employees from a pool of entry-level applicants. The second objective will involve offering the new hires with a competitive advantage. The competitive advantage has a vital role in attracting applicants to the city. Thirdly, the department needs to employ candidates that are well conversant with the culture of the agency. It remains significantly vital to select candidates that are not only compatible but also capable of achieving the objectives of the department.
Application pool
The application pool required to produce 25 viable candidates for the job will stand at 83 applicants. With a 30% yield ratio in mind, this particular pool of applicants will be essential in guaranteeing that the department receives the number of candidates that could adequately meet the stipulated objectives. With the current ration standing at 43:13, it, therefore, means that by the time the 43 rd person makes the application, 13 candidates shall have already been hired. Thus, if a 30% yield ratio is used to acquire 25 candidates, it means that a total of 83 individuals will be required to make the pool of selection.
Types of Individuals Targeted
The first group of individuals that should be recruited should come from the other police departments. The second group of recruits should come from the military police. First, it is important to note that the other police departments possess a yield ratio of 80% compared to the 60% for the military officer. Choosing from the police departments comes with an advantage because they have experience and secondly, they are locally available. Many police officers are eager to change their departments and move to areas that have better incentives. On the other hand, recruiting from the military police also comes with its benefits as the candidates have ample knowledge and experience to fill their respective positions successfully.
2 Effective Methods of Reaching Out To Target Groups
For military police, the best method to reach out to candidates would be through advertisement. The importance that comes with adverts is that that they can be widely viewed and placed in a wide variety of setting including electronically in the department’s website or physically through memos and posters. Other than reaching a large pool of potential candidates, advertisements also ensure that the agency in need of the military police effectively communicates information regarding the job details (Green & Gates, 2014).
Reaching out to the other police departments will be accomplished by utilizing newspaper advertisements in various police associations and other related union activities. Since this is a relatively higher population to target, it will require using a cost effective method that comes with the newspaper which also reaches a significantly a large group of people. Notification to various police association is an essential way of finding qualified candidates for the job of the other police officers. For security guards, the best way to reach out to the target group would be through the use of an employment agency. Most security guards are usually under specific employment agencies which have a potential of looking for a particular candidate that a company is searching for. The agency will narrow down to the most appropriate applicants by assessing their suitability and experience for a specific task.
Selection Plan for Police Officers
Three selection methods
The first selection method that could be used should include a judgment test. Such a test plays a significant role in proving not only their skills but also their particular work experiences. The importance of the judgment test is that it will determine if an individual is knowledgeable in a specific field and if they are fit to occupy a position in the police department. It will also provide the employer with a scope of how well a candidate will handle a specific situation. Target candidates can also be selected by doing a background date. Such a strategy assesses not only the experience but also the work ethic. A background date will also provide a scope of whether the personality of the candidate will fit in with the rest of the police officers. Such a method, therefore, ensures that the department will gel and work together for the common good of the public (Green & Gates, 2014). Thirdly, just like any other profession, interviews will offer valuable insights into the selection process. During an interview, the employer and the employee have an opportunity to determine whether they can work together. It also enables the employing department to know and understand the candidate as well as assess their thinking and overall work ethic.
Selection Tests for Assessing Suitability
In assessing whether an individual is suitable for the job of a police officer, several tests can be done in this regard. The first selection criteria can be determined by a drug test. The drug test measures whether an individual is free of any toxic substances that result from exposure to drugs. The test will further provide vital information on the drug status of the candidate, therefore, enabling the employer to understand if the individual is fit for a particular position. It is important to note that the role of police, unlike many other jobs, requires one to be physically fit. The presence of drugs in the body can depict a compromise into the health of the individual. It can further demonstrate that the candidate lacks a sense of trustworthiness and can therefore not be depended to discharge their duties with a high sense of morality and ethical standing (Bissett, Bissett, & Snell, 2012). The second test will assess the candidate's knowledge of the job. The importance of this test criterion is that it will assist the employer to gauge how the candidate will handle certain situations that present in the work environment. The assessment of the skills will ease the training process thus ensuring that the candidate becomes a successful employee.
Background Verification Checks
As earlier intimated, the police profession comes with a plethora of demands, and as such, it requires a department to conduct various background verification checks that would assist in providing knowledge of the potential employee. The first type of background verification check should target social media platforms. Such a background check enables the company to understand whether an individual will live up to the positive image of the company (Bissett, Bissett, & Snell, 2012). It will also help ascertain whether their previous behavior on the online platforms might have had a negative impact on the police department. Such a check should be performed when the department feels that the particular candidate might be a good recruit for the police department in need of a service. The second verification criteria performed on a police department should touch on the criminal background check which primarily happens during the hiring process. Through a criminal background check, the employer will know whether the candidate has performed any criminal behavior in the past (Bissett, Bissett, & Snell, 2012). An individual who has committed a criminal offense in the future can be risky employment since they have the potential to bring issues that might eventually taint the image of the department.
Evaluating the Overall Effectiveness of the Recruitment Process
Several ways can be used to assess whether or not the recruiting process was efficient. One of the ways that could be used to assess if the plans turned out well would be the employee retention. Alvesson and Sveningsson (2015) asserted that employee retention is defined as the organizational aim of ensuring that talented employees are kept and turnover rates lowered by creating a positive working environment. Therefore, the more the employees are retained, the higher the chances that the recruitment and selection process went as planned. If the correct employees are employed, they will quickly align to the organizational objectives and work towards achieving them without any prospects of changing their workstations. The second way to ensure the success of the recruitment and selection process is to assess the contentment rates of the employees and further evaluate how well they merge and interact in the police department. As such, this requires an understanding of what organizational culture entails. The organizational culture includes all underlying assumptions, beliefs, and values that contribute to the psychological and social environment of a particular organization (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). Therefore, the effectiveness of the recruitment process will largely be measured by how well the workers adhere to the organizational culture.
The third primary indicator to show whether the recruitment and selection process went well is to assess the budget requirements of the entire process. If the cost taken to complete the entire process was reasonable, the plan must have gone well. However, if the cost was unreasonably high, it means that the recruitment process was flawed thus leading to extra expenses. Lastly, the employer must assess the discipline of the recruits to ascertain whether the entire process went down as expected. Some of the common indicators of discipline include whether the employees are arriving on time at work and if they understand their roles well. Most importantly, the fact that employees are meeting the objectives of the organizations means that the entire process of recruitment and selection process was efficient.
References
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.
Bissett, D., Bissett, J., & Snell, C. (2012). Physical agility tests and fitness standards: perceptions of law enforcement officers. Police Practice and Research, 13(3), 208-223.
Green, T., & Gates, A. (2014). Understanding the process of professionalization in the police organization. The Police Journal, 87(2), 75-91.
Keeley, M. C. (2013). Labor supply and public policy: A critical review. Elsevier.
Terwiesch, C., & Cachon, G. (2012). Matching supply with demand: An introduction to operations management. McGraw-Hill Education-Europe.
