Police Staffing

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between community type classifications and police strength. Prior research has examined other correlates, but no attempts have been made previously to examine the relationship between community type (as outlined and defined by Chinni and Gimpel, 2010) and police staffing levels. Read More

The recession beginning in 2008 caused many unprecedented difficulties for sustaining police workforces throughout the United States. Over time, law enforcement has experienced increased responsibilities and difficulties attracting and hiring qualified, diverse, and skilled personnel. Read More

Police agencies take a variety of approaches to determining their staffing allocation needs. Based on a review of the literature, interviews with practitioners representing 20 diverse agencies across the USA and national focus group of 21 staffing experts, this article assesses current trends and experiences in staffing allocation. Read More

Civilianization of policing is one of the most frequent methods agencies use to continue providing service to the community while still tending to the pressing management and administration needs of an agency. Read More

“Our people are our most important asset” is a frequently used phrase in police management. This saying magnifies why employee turnover is an important issue facing police organizations. Read More

Staffing police departments is a continuous challenge and one that has become more complex in recent years. Immediately prior to the onset of the 2008 recession, police agencies had difficulty recruiting officers and responded by implementing a number of creative recruitment incentives. Read More

This work aims to summarize literature on police recruitment and retention and how changing conditions may affect these. It uses a bucket metaphor to conceptualize and present visually how these changing conditions can interact with each other and create a dynamic police staffing challenge. Read More

The COPS [Community Oriented Policing Services] Office presents this Essentials for Leaders, which provides summaries of existing and new COPS Office publications and resources, tailored for executives. ‘Essentials for Leaders: A Performance-Based Approach to Staffing and Allocation’ provides a practical step-by-step approach for any agency to assess its own patrol staffing needs based upon its workload and performance objectives. Read More

A Performance-Based Approach to Staffing and Allocation highlights the current staffing allocation landscape for law enforcement agencies and provides a practical step-by-step approach for any agency to assess its own patrol staffing needs based upon its workload and performance objectives. Read More