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http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01s4655k34b| Title: | Hiring for the 21st century law enforcement officer: Challenges, opportunities, and strategies for success |
| Contributors: | Morison, Kevin P. |
| Keywords: | Police—United States—Personnel management Criminal justice, Administration of—United States Diversity in the workplace |
| Issue Date: | 2017 |
| Publisher: | Office of Community Oriented Policing Services |
| Place of Publication: | Washington, D.C. |
| Description: | This report summarizes three themes in hiring of police officers: 1. Hiring candidates who share the values and vision of the community and the department. This section explores how some agencies are using the hiring process to do more than disqualify individuals who fail to meet basic standards. Rather, more and more agencies are using the process to “hire the positive”—that is, to attract and ultimately hire people who reflect the values and vision of the law enforcement agency and the community. This section also explores new ways of thinking about such traditional disqualifiers as past drug use (an increasingly complex matter, given the trend toward marijuana legalization or decriminalization in many states) and applicants’ financial difficulties (which may be a result of poor economic conditions nationwide). This section also examines the role of polygraph exams, psychological screenings, and the National Decertification Index, a relatively new and underused tool to help agencies screen candidates in a more comprehensive, multijurisdictional fashion. 2. Making the hiring process more efficient. Traditionally, the police hiring process in most agencies has been slow and cumbersome. As a result, some agencies are losing qualified candidates to other departments, and in some cases, the policing profession is losing highly attractive candidates to other professions. This section of the report explores what some agencies are doing to shorten the hiring process and make it more efficient and user-friendly to applicants. Forum participants emphasized that speed and efficiency in hiring are especially important among the younger generations—Millennials and Generation Z—who make up the bulk of people now entering the workforce. 3. Advancing diversity and inclusiveness in the hiring process. This section examines how agencies are meeting their goals of building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities they serve, while also ensuring high-quality candidates and a process that is fair to everyone. Hiring Forum participants described new approaches to “growing their own candidates” through programs such as police explorers, cadets and internships. They also discussed the important role that background investigators play not just in screening and evaluating candidates, but also in shaping the “culture” of an agency. |
| URI: | http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01s4655k34b |
| Related resource: | https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-w0831-pub.pdf |
| Appears in Collections: | Monographic reports and papers (Publicly Accessible) |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cops-w0831-pub.pdf | 2.09 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Download |
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