What do police departments look for when hiring

The cover letter and resume are a measure of how well the applicant writes. A standardized test given to all potential applicants. Passing the written test is a requirement of continuing on with the hiring process. More about the Written Test.

The oral board Interview is where the applicant appears before a group of at least 3 members from the department, other departments, or members of the community, and are asked a series of questions. More about the Oral Board Interview. The purpose of the physical agility test is only to determine if applicants have the physical abilities to perform the duties required by the job.

More about the Physical Agility Test. This could include drug use, criminal activity, and other acts of behavior inconsistent with being a law enforcement officer. More about the Polygraph. The purpose of the psychological is to determine if an applicant is psychologically fit to perform the duties of a law enforcement officer.

This is vital to determine that an officer will not be a danger to the public, their team members, and themselves. Consider focusing on the benefits of the work realities in your agency. And consider making certain that your advertising—in person, online and in the media—fairly reflect those realities to those most likely to gravitate to them.

Streamline Your Hiring Process. Law enforcement agencies must dedicate the appropriate time and personnel to ensure that all of their new hires meet standards. However, the necessity of thorough vetting should not necessitate hiring processes that take six months, a year, or even longer.

If not, as the study indicates, you are falling behind. For many officers, based on the study, an offer today from an agency that may have been their second or third choice is better than waiting around for an indeterminate amount of time for their first choice. And the opposite also appears to be true—you may be their first choice, but if you are months behind the competition there is no reason to rest assured that they will be waiting for you once you reach out with a job offer.

Online and traditional advertising as a part of your agency recruiting is not something that we would suggest abandoning. However, the study indicates that agencies should be careful not to over-emphasize the role of these more formal recruiting efforts, particularly at the cost of focusing attention on other facets of your long-term recruiting efforts.

This indicates that agencies should continually ask: Do our officers act as recruiters for our agency on and off the clock? The answers to these questions are critical, as the study indicates that personal connections are a more frequently cited factor in choosing a particular agency than any formal recruiting material that you could distribute.

Whether accomplished through a formal retention and recruiting study or by simply talking to your officers as frequently and frankly as possible, it is vital to gage the level of job satisfaction in your department. Job satisfaction among your officers is vital to countless facets of agency operations—and recruiting seems to be no different.

He conducts training courses throughout the United States on the various topics, including Recruiting and Hiring for Law Enforcement.

Download PDF. Want to host Dolan Consulting Group at your event or conference? Need more information about one of our classes? All Rights Reserved. Website Design and Digital Marketing by. CALL: Reasons for Selecting their Law Enforcement Agency The survey respondents were presented with a list of twenty-five potential factors that might have influenced their decision to apply and accept employment with their current employing law enforcement agency.

Table 1. Examining Era Differences We examined the top ten responses of the respondents who had become law enforcement officers within the last five years, and compared these to the top ten responses of the respondents who joined law enforcement more than five years ago.

Table 2. Reasons for Joining your Specific Department by Hiring Era The responses of those hired within the last five years placed slightly greater emphasis on the work environment and slightly less emphasis on the financial or pragmatic aspects of employment.

Because of the risks inherent in the profession, police officers also tend to earn relatively good salaries. The U. Employment for police officers is expected to grow by 7 percent from to , which is about half the projected growth rate for all occupations. Tony Guerra served more than 20 years in the U.

He also spent seven years as an airline operations manager. Guerra is a former realtor, real-estate salesperson, associate broker and real-estate education instructor. He holds a master's degree in management and a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies.

Work Careers Law Enforcement Jobs. By Tony Guerra. Application and Assessment There are numerous law enforcement agencies of all sizes and jurisdictions in the U. Initial Selection Criteria Each step in the police officer selection process is designed to thin out the ranks of applicants.