Many blame the current recruiting and retention struggles in law enforcement primarily on the decline in public support for the police—fueled by biased media coverage and exploited by some prominent politicians and activist groups.  Obviously, these conditions have not helped police recruiting and retention, but other root causes of the problems run much deeper and are, in many ways, more troubling in the long-term.

These root cause challenges are shared by those struggling to hire qualified applicants to replace retiring teachers, firefighters, nurses and countless other professionals.  And these challenges will likely have lasting effects for years to come.  

As a result, rather than simply waiting for the storm to pass and sticking to “the way we’ve always done things”, we need to take a sober look at the morale and staffing problems head on and discuss ways to make the agency the exception to the rule by embracing recruiting, retention and morale-building strategies that most agencies are unlikely to implement.

In this training, Attorney Matt Dolan will discuss these underlying structural challenges and possible responses for law enforcement leaders seeking to make their agency the exception to the rule in an age of staffing crises.  The discussion will place a particular emphasis on reexamining recruiting and retention strategies, more effectively addressing officer burnout and giving officers clear rules of engagement.

• Avoiding the vicious cycle of negligent hiring practices
• Maintaining ethically defensible vetting standards in the hiring process and field training
• Considering a Permanent Recruiting Model built on the military’s historical example of anticipating and planning for continuous turnover
• Addressing officer burnout and re-examining personnel policies
• Embracing the principles of Procedural Justice inside the agency
• Giving officers clear rules of engagement in the field
• Ensuring that agency policies match political realities and community expectations
• Determining community priorities and clearly communicating deployment strategies
• Back to Basics—Rediscovering Peelian Principles