March 2014

Agencies face a number of challenges in recruiting officers who will become tomorrow’s law enforcement leaders; policing requires skill, knowledge, and a certain type of personality. Every element of police recruiting and hiring can benefit from innovative approaches and new techniques that broaden the pool of applicants and drew high-quality candidates.

The cover photograph features San Bernadino (California) Public Safety Academy students participating in Jaws of Life training. Photo courtesy of the Academy.

Articles

• Colorado’s Cold Case Task Force: A Blueprint for Improving Cold Case Investigation and Developing Trust between Co-victims and Law Enforcement

  By Derek Regensburger, Adjunct Instructor, Criminology, Colorado State University
  Unresolved or “cold case” homicides represent some of the most challenging cases for law enforcement to successfully solve and prosecute. Despite growing media attention and increasing public awar...

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• Targeted Analytical Policing System (T.A.P.S.): Improving Policing in New Castle County

  By Wendi Feeser, Captain New Castle County, Delaware, Police DepartmentPatrick Crowell, Senior Lieutenant, New Castle County, Delaware, Police Department
  New Castle County (NCC), which lies in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, is the most populated of the three counties in the state of Delaware, and the New Castle County Police Department (...

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• Realistic Job Previews: Reworking Your Recruitment Messaging and Strategies to Reach Today’s Candidates

  By Kamran Afzal, Captain, Commander, Human Resource Management Section, Arlington County, Virginia, Police Department Jason Keckler, Lieutenant, Patrol Operations Commander, Frederick, Maryland, Police Department IACP Discover Policing Staff
  Recruitment is an ongoing challenge for police agencies. Even during tough economic times when many employers are flush with applicants, the quality of law enforcement candidates continues to be a con...

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• Innovative Injunctions Wrest Long Beach Streets from Gang’s Grip

  By Jim McDonnell, Chief, Long Beach, California, Police Department
  Drake Park in Long Beach, California, looked just as it should late one recent April afternoon as Detective Chris Zamora took two guests on a tour of the city’s north side—children on swings; pare...

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• Enhancing Recruitment Efforts Nationwide through K–12 School Partnerships

  By Dr. Joseph N. Coffee, Director of Research and Project Development, National Partnership for Careers in Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security Director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Law and Public Safety, Mansfield University, Pennsylvania. Greg Kyritsis, Senior Law Enforcement Consultant, California Commission on Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST), Center for Leadership Development Bureau and Sheriff’s Captain and Commander of Training (Ret.), San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff’s Department. Dr. Thomas E. Navickas, Executive Director, National Partnership for Careers in Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security.
  For careers in public safety, an all-too familiar challenge lies in the need for more efficient, cost-effective recruiting and hiring processes. This issue may be most pressing in law enforcement. In ...

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• The Role of Pre-employment Screenings

  Recruitment for new police officers and other public safety personnel has its challenges every step of the way, from advertising the open positions to selecting the candidates that will go on to the r...

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• Medical Screening of Police Applicants

  By Fabrice Czarnecki, MD, MA, MPH, FACOEM, Medical Director, Public Safety Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group; Immediate Past-Chairman, Police Physicians Section, International Association of Chiefs of Police
  Scenario 1 A police officer has poorly controlled diabetes and receives insulin shots. One day, while on duty, that officer suffers from low blood sugar. As a result, the officer becomes me...

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• Building a Better Workforce Through the Use of Pre-Employment Psychological Evaluations

  By Jocelyn Roland, PhD, ABPP, Chair, IACP Police Psychological Services Section Robin L. Greene, PhD, Occupational Psychologist, City of Los Angeles, California Gary Hampton, Chief of Police, Tracy, California, Police Department Richard Wihera, PsyD, ABPP, Police Psychologist
  Recruitment of a quality workforce takes an enormous amount of time, effort, and expense. A smart approach to this process in law enforcement includes multiple information sources that ultimately coal...

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