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It is often difficult for law enforcement workforce planners to systematically address allocation, recruitment, training, and retention to effectively address staffing challenges. Taking up these broader
discussions of police workload and how best to manage it, however, enables certain key questions to be posed, including the following:
• How does an agency know when it is understaffed?
• How does an agency address the effects of understaffing?
• What can be done to build better workforces?
• Are there solutions other than staffing for managing workload demand?
Summarizing our 2024 research study in Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, this publication illustrates elements of the police staffing challenge and how they form a broader ecosystem that agencies should consider when assessing staffing issues, contemplating goals and strategies, and implementing solutions. It presents a six-step approach for police workforce planning and managing workload demand. The analysis draws on a broad review of academic and professional research, as well as experience in working with hundreds of practitioners in the course of three decades. We draw across these experiences to articulate a more evidence-based, comprehensive, field-tested, and efficient approach to workforce planning.

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