Law enforcement agencies are grappled with several problems in their bid to maintain law and order in a society. Greatest of these include recruiting, selecting, and retaining the workforce required to have an outstanding base. With the increase in the responsibility of the officers, there is a need to have an expanded force (Rand, 2010). However, the resources have continued to decrease thus rendering the task of expanding the workforce is impaired. This means the agency is required to practice more policing with diminished resources, therefore making the whole process of maintaining law and order a challenging ordeal. Such is what has been facing our agency for some time now with various strategies to reduce the crime rate in our state failing due to the poor process of responding to the challenges of recruiting and retaining of officers (Rand, 2010).
As the newly appointed director of human resources, I have been tasked with researching and identifying the factors that affect the agency’s efforts of recruiting and retaining workforce and the remedies that may be viable. The information obtained from the research will be applied to the specific issues we face within our agency. After researching the information that my predecessor left behind, I was able to identify a number of demographic, environmental, and economic factors that influence the demand for and supply of officers. The factors selected were both internal and external.
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Factors that are Influencing Labor Demand and Supply
Through the analysis of historical information provided, the elements that surface as the contributors of the shortage of qualified job applicants are as follows. When observing the factors in a labor demand perspective, they are the influencers of the number and variety of individuals that our agency will look for in the future. From the supply angle, the same factors are the ones that will define if the people are better recruited externally or internally. Many factors significantly affect the supply and demand of the applicants in the police workforce. In this section, we will discuss the three most significant of the factors that affect demand, as well as those influencing supply.
Labor Demand
The internal pressures, as well as some external ones, influence the demands of police officers. The factors are discussed as follows.
A) The need to reduce crime levels
The first factor that influences the demand for labor force in our agency is the need to reduce the rate of crime levels. When coming into office, the mayor promises the residents that he will work hard to ensure the rates of crime are contained. With the increasing insecurity, there is a need to increase the labor base of the officers for containment. There is the need to have more police officers patrolling the areas that have the higher crime levels in the city. Previously, there were attempts to reduce this by increasing the number of patrols of the existing officers but it did not bear any positive fruits. It led to many individuals getting pays higher than that of the mayor due to working excess overtime.
B) Employee Turnover
The demographic and economic constraints have led to the greater demand for police recruitment in our agency. This is attributed to the fact that the average age for the current workforce is 45. This means that in the next five years, there will be a need to replace the officers who would have qualified for retirement. The number that will be eligible for retirement accounts for 24 percent. The statistics is short and does not factor in the turnover of employees that result from voluntary or involuntary leave. The numbers show that at least a quarter of the police force will need to be replaced in the next five years. The void that the officers who are moving out will leave makes the agency in a sharp demand for more recruits to fill those positions and to increase the patrol to improve the current situation.
C) Failure of previous plans
The third factor that makes the demand for the new recruits rise is the failure of the referral plan strategies. The approach that the preceding official suggested has been short of what was expected. It was aimed at increasing the number of recruits in our agency but the exercise did not meet the required standard. Other factors played an important role in making the supply of police officers short. The failure to meet the organizational goal led to the other strategies for increasing overtime patrols that led to the embarrassment of the mayor. This means that the approach also failed hence the need to fix the mess with the immediate recruitment of new officers.
Labor Supply
Nationally, the agencies that deal with law enforcement have experienced a decline in the number of job applicants. The problem has even led to the lack of qualified applicants for the police department. The following factors have been the contributing ones in our city.
A) Emigration
Economic conditions in the state make it difficult for the community to cope. The overall cost of living in the region is one of the highest in the entire nation. Living in the state makes one not be able to meet their daily expenses and those of their families. This makes the people of all ages migrate to other areas to pursue greener pastures. The potential applicants are moving out to find better employment opportunities or attend college.
B) Poor Job Outlook in the City
Another factor that leads to the decline in the supply of qualified police officers is the general outlook of the job within the police force. There is apparently little promise or incentive when working in the city and this has been reflected in the agency as well. With the ever-expanding job requirement and the economic conditions, many people feel like it is not worth working in the city or in the police department specifically. The city is marred by rising crime rate and people do not feel safe to work here.
C) Extreme Environment
The climate of this state is harsh to humans. It is difficult to find people who are willing to brave it and adjust to the intemperate conditions. The tough winters and warm summers may cause stress to many people who are not used to such and therefore limiting our reach for a workforce. Part of the reason why there is a mass migration from the city to others is due to the harsh climatic conditions in our city.
Recruitment Plan Design
The recruitment process is one of the most tedious and entails vast amounts of resources. There may be many mistakes if the planning is not well designed and thus leading to failure in meeting the set goals ( Orrick, 2017) . In my first step of plan design, it is essential, therefore, to identify the recruitment objectives that would be specific to our agency. These goals are as discussed below.
A) To recruit within specified demographics, as the agency needs applicants from the entry level. This is in line with the fact that almost a quarter of the workforce in our agency will be legible for retirement in five years’ time. In addition, the average age of the workforce makes it necessary to recruit only from entry level as it stands at 45 years.
B) The second goal is to provide a competitive advantage for the new recruits, as the agency needs to attract more applicants within the city. This will also make sure that the rate of retention for the existing officers is high.
C) The third objective is to recruit candidates that identify with the organizational culture of our agency and the police force in general. The compatibility and capability of the individuals are important in achieving the overall goals of the agency.
The recruitment process largely depended on the historical hiring data that my predecessor left behind. The data and other pieces were utilized to come up with the strategy for recruitment. The information retrieved therein did not only help with the determination of the size of the applicant pool and the target group required but also assisted in the selection process by offering the effective methods of attracting the targeted individuals.
Mathematical analysis of the data provided by the previous recruitments helped in the projection of the required amount of people that would make it to the sixth step of the process. The applicant pool was an essential one in ensuring that we arrive at the final number without falling short. Currently, the number of officers required after the recruitment and training process stands at 25 individuals. This number represents the viable candidates who are ready to take up the job offer. Nevertheless, given that the efficiency of the process is not a hundred percent, there is a possibility of working backward to determine the number of people required in each category of the target group to give us the 25 viable candidates.
The numerical analysis involved getting the yield ratios for each target. After obtaining the total pool size, the applicants’ number from each category was calculated using the yield ratios. The yield results were obtained by getting the quotient between the number of applicants that made it to the last recruitment round (6 th ) and the total number of applicants at the beginning of the process (1 st round). This was done in each target group. The total pool size was determined by getting the ratio between the total number of applicants resulting after the last round and the ones that were brought in in round one.
The ratio obtained from the data provided in the last recruitment is 43:13. In other words, the total number of applicants was 43 and the resultant recruits were 13. This means that for every 43 applicants, only 13 made it to the last round of the recruitment process. The combined ratio from this information that incorporates all the target groups is thus obtained by dividing 13 by 43 and multiplying by 100. This results to 30.2 percent. This means that the efficiency of the recruitment process is 30.2 percent and thus it is possible to work back to get the required pool by dividing the target goal of 25 people by the total ratio. This gives 83 as the total number of viable applicants that can be considered in the first round of the process.
Total ratio:
Total applicants: (with a known target of 25 officers)
The same process was done to the individual groups and recorded as in the table below:
|
Target Group |
Step1: Application |
Step 6: Hiring Decision & Job Offer |
Yield ratio (%) |
| Military Police |
5 |
3 |
60 |
| Corrections Officer |
9 |
1 |
11 |
| Security Guard |
14 |
0 |
0 |
| Criminal Justice Graduate |
10 |
5 |
50 |
| Other Police Departments |
5 |
4 |
80 |
| TOTAL |
43 |
13 |
Military Police: 3/5*100 = 60%
Corrections Officer: 1/9*100 = 11%
Security Guard: 0/14*100 = 0%
Criminal Justice Graduate: 5/10*100 = 50%
Other Police Departments: 4/5*100 = 80%
The results were adjusted for every category to obtain the number that was needed for each target group. This was obtained by getting the percentage that each category represents in the entire former number of total applicants that is 43. For instance, the military police category was calculated as below:
Using the same percentage, we obtained the number of officers in 83 applicants as follows.
The process was repeated for all the categories and recorded in the table below:
|
Target Group |
Percentage ratio (%) |
Step1: Application |
| Military Police |
11.6 |
10 |
| Corrections Officer |
20.9 |
17 |
| Security Guard |
32.6 |
27 |
| Criminal Justice Graduate |
23.3 |
19 |
| Other Police Departments |
11.6 |
10 |
| TOTAL |
100 |
83 |
Two groups that should be targeted the most in this exercise are the officers from military and other police departments. By looking at the data provided in the previous recruitment, these two categories yielded the most ratios combined, 60% and 80% respectively. This means that when compared to the rest of the groups, the two categories require a relatively smaller amount of applicants to yield a number of recruits. The military requires 10 applicants to yield 6 recruits and the officers from other departments need 10 to yield eight. Therefore, out of 20 applicants, the two groups will give 14 people.
Advertisement Methods
A number of methods can be used to reach the two target groups. For the military police, the methods would entail job advertisement on the sites for military personnel ( Orrick, 2017) . This would ensure that it attracts a large base as many people within the forces are connected to the internet. The other way is the placement of the job in military journals. These periodicals are always published after some time and many people within the military read them thus it will attract interest from a large number.
For the recruitment of the active police officers from the other departments, the two best methods are employee referral and job fairs. According to Orrick (2017), the individual officers who are recruited through the process of referral is more likely to succeed during the selection process. In addition, the agency is more likely to retain such officers. The advantage of this type of method is that it involves the people who are familiar with the type of job they are offered and they understand their requirements ( Orrick, 2017) . The job fairs are effective when the agency wants to reach out to as many applicants as possible. The large number cannot be met through referrals. Thus, the method is capable of raising the pool of applicants.
Selection Plan Design
Selection Methods
The recruitment process requires appropriate methods of selecting the recruits in order to check whether they meet the requirements of the job for the police workforce.
A) Personality Profiling
The first selection approach is personality profiling (Webster, 2017). In this case, the person is evaluated to check the personal attributes, values and life skills for maximizing the performance of the job and the contribution to the agency.
B) Ability, Physiologic, and Aptitude Tests
The set of these three tests will be useful in determining whether the candidate is physically and mentally capable to perform the police duties. This approach is important because the job requires fitness and clear state of mind to make quick decisions.
C) Group Exercises
This method is essential to check on the proficiency of an individual to complete group activities. The police force is one that requires coordination and teamwork and thus it is important to check whether the candidates can work well with others.
Selection Tests
The two selection tests that will be used to assess the recruits are mental and physical testing. The former will include using the psychological screening to determine the level of integrity, stress tolerance, impulse control, and many more. The physical testing will involve the determination of physical capability for the officers to perform duties without jeopardizing future health (Landy & Conte, 2016).
Background Verification Checks
Types of check
The first type of check to be utilized will be criminal record assessment. This involves screening the records to see whether the individual has a negative record that can hinder them from a public employment ( Armstrong & Taylor, 2014) .
Drug testing is another method that will be used to check whether the applicant has a history of substance abuse ( Landy & Conte, 2016) .
The first check should be conducted during the screening interview in order to save on time needed to carry out the next steps ( Armstrong & Taylor, 2014) . Drug test should come before making the hiring decision.
Evaluation of Overall Effectiveness: Recruitment & Selection Plans
The four methods that will be used to determine the effectiveness of the recruitment process are discussed below.
1) Successful Recruitment Advertisement
The number of accrual applicants will test the methods used to reach out to the targeted pool ( Gatewood et al., 2015) . This will show the effectiveness of the advertisement methods and whether or not there need to be adjustments.
2) Average Fill Time
The average time it took to fill each position is important to determine the cost of the process. The shorter the time it takes, the more effective the process as there will be less time to lose officers that are more qualified ( Gatewood et al., 2015) .
3) Costs per Hire
The average cost used to hire a single person is an important element in determining the future budgetary implications. It also shows whether the exercise was financially sound.
4) Acceptable Yield Ratios
The yield ratios (the quotient between resultant recruits and applicants) are essential in determining the suitability of the methods used. It is also a measure of the assessment process.
References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice . Kogan Page Publishers.
Gatewood, R., Feild, H. S., & Barrick, M. (2015). Human resource selection . Nelson Education.
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2016). Work in the 21st century, Binder ready version: An introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology . John Wiley & Sons.
Orrick, D. (2017). Best Practices Guide: Recruitment, Retention, and Turnover in Law Enforcement. Retrieved from http://www.nccpsafety.org/assets/files/library/Recruitment_Retention_and_Turnover_in_Law_Enforcement.pdf
RAND Corporation. (2010). Improving Police Recruitment and Retention. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9546/index1.html
Webster, B. (2017). Workforce Planning: Recruitment and Selection. Retrieved from https://wgu.myeducator.com/reader/web/688/
