With police departments across the country struggling to hire and retain officers, the Justice Department issued a new report on Tuesday with strategies and takeaways aimed at helping law enforcement agencies grow their forces.
“Recruiting and retaining qualified law enforcement officers in the 21st century requires executives and hiring professionals to modernize policing from the ground up,” according to the report, titled the “Recruitment and Retention for the Modern Law Enforcement Agency.” “[A]gencies must reevaluate their eligibility requirements, hiring processes, academy structures, and training to accurately reflect policing today.”
Full story: Justice Department issues new report aimed at improving police hiring nationwide
How should we best keep police departments staffed? This article talks about the steady decline in department staffing over the past few years. Many of the issues contributing to this trend are poor pay; lack of pension/retirement benefits, and the increased negative view of police. The largest issue seems to be getting officers to stay on the force not finding applicants to hire. The first step to keeping officers on the force would be to increase their pay and benefits. The average salary for police officers in North Carolina is approximately $40,000 a year. In today’s economy with inflation on the rise, this is an extremely low wage for a dangerous and demanding job like law enforcement. Raising police officers’ wages would not only help to keep departments staffed but it would also bring more qualified applicants to the profession. Most police officers in this country do not have any higher education than a high school diploma. Studies have shown officers who hold a college degree are much less likely to receive complaints from citizens. If we could raise the wages for police departments it could attract applicants with college degrees which would lead to more effective policing while solving the problem of understaffed departments. Of course, this would require a major increase in funding for police departments but it would be an investment in the community and would lead to an enhanced quality of life for community members.