By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
Law enforcement agencies across the United States are grappling with staffing shortages following the pandemic and an increase in police hostility.
Fort Hays State University Chairwoman of the Criminal Justice Department Tamara Lynn and Assistant Professor Morgan Steele completed research in 2023.
The study occurred after a program graduate approached Lynn with concerns about how rural agencies struggle to recruit, hire and retain qualified officers.
Lynn and Steele moved forward with creating a survey to determine the significance of the problem across different size communities.
The data collected is from more than 200 law enforcement agencies across Kansas, eastern Colorado and southwest Nebraska.
Hostility towards police
Lynn and Steele's study said in addition to the pandemic, civil protests and unrest following the murder of George Floyd, may have influenced crime rates in larger cities and strained relations between law enforcement and the public.
Lynn said after incidents similar to George Floyd's death, condemning the actions of Minneapolis officers that day, there is a more negative perception of law enforcement.
"People tend to be more critical of law enforcement and feel like they are not doing what they need to do," she said. "It then turns negative social pressures on law enforcement in general."
The study reports that 73 officers fell victim to felonious killings in 2021, a 59 percent increase from 2020. Of those, 55 officers were killed by gunfire.
According to the study, both violent and social hostility toward law enforcement are likely to impact qualified individuals willing to pursue long-term careers in the field.
Steele said social media and news coverage approaches to police incidents are among the factors that can shape perceptions of law enforcement.
Lynn said after the Floyd incident, there was a nationwide increase in recruitment and retention issues due to retirements and agency resignations following public response.
"If you're going to work every day and you're hated by the people that you serve, that can wear on a person after a while," Lynn said.
Vacancy and issues with recruitment and retention
Steele said in agencies with 10 officers, staffing shortages can lead to overwork as all officers are required to meet increased service demands.
"From a retention side, no one likes to be drawn in a thousand different directions every single day," Steele said.
Although rural agencies generally have fewer officers while urban agencies tend to employ more, test results show urban agencies are more likely to have open positions than rural ones.
On average, among all surveyed agencies, there was roughly one vacant position per agency.
According to the study, the most significant challenge for agencies in filling vacancies is finding qualified candidates.
Sixty-four percent of all agencies reported facing this issue, with 21.7 percent experiencing challenges in finding any candidates at all.
"Most agencies are holding out for a qualified candidate," Steele said. "There may be people out there who are willing to do the job but may not meet the standards of agencies."
When asked about the reasons for trained officers leaving the agency, respondents cited employees transitioning to a different agency, accounting for 47.1 percent, followed by individuals leaving the field entirely at 31.3 percent.
Other issues that affected recruitment and retention regardless of community size include:
- Pay
- Benefits
- Securing housing
- Academy training
- Field training
Rural and Urban Law Enforcement Agencies
Rural agencies typically employ anywhere from one to 20 officers.
The study reported that 48 percent of law enforcement agencies across the U.S. employ fewer than 10 officers.
Lynn said while it may not be ideal, officers are also attracted to areas with higher crime rates when considering relocation to larger cities.
"Something as simple as the larger cities having higher crime rates, officers are drawn to that excitement," she said.
Hays Police Department and Ellis County Sherriff
Police Chief Don Scheibler has been with the Hays Police Department for 30 years and said the department used to have over 50 officers applying for the same position. Something uncommon today.
"Now, recruitment and testing, if we can get double digits, then we would consider ourselves fortunate," he said.
Ellis County Sheriff Scott Braun said there's been a similar decline since he started working at the Sheriff's Office in 1997.
"We had anywhere from 30 to 50 applicants that would apply for an open position. We are now around the 10 mark, so it's a significant drop," Braun said.
The police department brought the recruitment and retention challenges to the city of Hays and, by 2018, was given a wage increase that saw the police department become fully staffed until 2020.
Scheibler said the pandemic was the most significant event in 2020 that impacted the trajectory of retaining staff.
"We lost 12 in the patrol division, which is almost 1/3 of certified law enforcement officers," he said.
Scheibler said nine officers left law enforcement altogether in 2020, but several have returned to the Hays department or other agencies.
Braun said the decrease in applicants occurred two years after the pandemic but, despite this, maintained a full staff of 42 as the Sheriff's Office occasionally sees officers come and go.
"We find ourselves taking from other departments, and it leaves others within the surrounding counties short," Braun said. "I currently have some employees that are seeking employment elsewhere. They're looking to move on."
The police department refilling a dozen openings was challenging in 2020 due to a lack of applications. This led to hiring people who had previously applied but were not hired.
"We went through old applications of people we had previously tested and passed on," Scheibler said. "We did take some chances on some individuals that we probably wouldn't have prior to the pandemic."
Although the officers hired in 2020 met state standards to be law enforcement officers in the state of Kansas, Scheibler said the Hays Police Department seeks higher qualifications in its candidates.
"Now, if we can't find the applicant we need and they don't meet our standards then we don't hire them. It's better to go without hiring somebody who doesn't have what we need them to be," Scheibler said.
Scheibler said that since then, the police department has recovered from many challenges it faced in 2020 and currently has one opening and four potential officers in the academy or training program.
Community impact
According to Steele, shortages create challenges for currently staffed officers responding to emergencies, resulting in a loss of trust.
"It may mean that the community doesn't want to reach out to law enforcement because they don't want to wait and it may prompt some to not report crimes or other incidents to the police," he said.
Steele gives an example: if an officer is investigating a DUI and then has to attend a court hearing, this means one less officer available in the field, placing a greater demand on others.
Lynn said within the past year, the Wichita Police Department has suspended aptitude testing to fill openings within their agencies.
"The fact that Wichita is temporarily reducing this requirement means they are desperate to fill positions," she said.
Staffing-related challenges, although prevalent across the nation, are not as severe today in the Hays Police Department as they were in 2020, Scheibler said.
Scheibler said that a shortage of officers means they are less likely to address issues unless specifically informed, resulting in reduced police patrols.
"Law enforcement, once they become responsive and less proactive, there is more opportunity for drug violations and petty theft like vehicle burglaries," he said.
An alternative to keeping officers on patrol in 2020 involved pulling resource officers from schools and other community activities, Scheibler said.
Criminal Justice Program
Lynn said the FHSU criminal justice program is dependable but has seen a decrease in students pursuing careers in law enforcement due to media coverage.
"Every time we see something large in the media like George Floyd, that makes people wonder, 'Well, is that something that I want to do?'" Lynn said.
Lynn said the decrease in students in the program began in 2014 with the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., followed by the protests and riots.
The downward trend of students entering Criminal Justice Programs after a high-profile incident is a pattern found not only in the region but on a global scale, Steele said.
Other careers that are often pursued besides law enforcement officers are education, medicine, social services and victim advocacy.
"All of those career fields are ones that our students and prospective law enforcement officers gravitate toward because those fields help people, and that's the kind of person we want to be a cop," Steele said.
The FHSU program and university police joined the National De-escalation Training Center in 2020. This is a course designed to increase officer confidence in using de-escalation skills in working with the public.
Agencies interested in requesting training can contact FHSU Chairwoman Tamara Lynn at 785-628-5668 or by email at [email protected]
You can read Lynn and Steele's full study here.
Solution
Steele said the main takeaway from the article is the trend of officers moving from small towns to larger cities for greater benefits.
He said for rural communities, factors like budget constraints and inflation may pose challenges, but agencies must remain resilient.
"This may be something that agencies have to weather the storm and get through because there may not be a 'do X, Y, and Z' and to get good candidates," he said.
Lynn said that regarding budget constraints, agencies offering creative benefits and intriguing resources can catch the attention of future and younger officers.
"Agencies finding other ways to support their staff, like flexible scheduling, would be helpful," she said. "Creative benefits that are nonmonetary are going to go a long way."
Since 2017, the Hays Police Department has implemented several strategies and initiatives to improve recruitment and attract new officers including:
- If an employee recruits an officer, they can receive $1,000 to $2,000
- Increasing wages
- Expanding employee residency requirements
- The creation of a police recruitment team
- Participating in college events and job fairs
- Faster application process
- Increasing both time off and paid time off
- An emphasis on recruiting women
"In our recruitment efforts, we've tried to reach out to that portion of our society," Scheibler said. "We've had some luck hiring female applicants that have been really good officers for us."
Efforts to welcome women into the police force are led through the 30x30 Initiative, aiming to increase women's representation in recruitment classes to 30 percent by 2030.
The Hays Police Department produced a video solely targeting recruiting female officers.
Braun said he wants correction officers to make more money to prevent a staff shortage and transform the position into a stable job.
"My goal is to get an additional raise for corrections officers and get them to the same starting wage as a deputy," Braun said. "At least get that hourly rate to make it a more career-oriented position rather than just a job."
Despite the hostility and staffing shortages agencies faced in recent years, Braun and Scheibler said Ellis County fared better thanks to local support.
"People were thanking us daily for the job we did and they couldn't understand why all this stuff was going on," Braun said.
"Our community is very strong, very pro-law enforcement and the Hays Police Department feels very supported by them," he said.