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>>Leadership Sets the Course,
But Culture is at the Helm.
Dr. Marshall Jones
How many storms can law enforcement weather? Intense scrutiny from the media,
both traditional and social, with little if any understanding of the nuances required to
e ectively manage agencies. The constant negative critique of the profession over
the past few years has cast a heavy fog of cynicism among today’s applicant pool,
exasperating an already critical challenge in recruiting and retention. Less sta ing,
the natural retirement wave, faster paths to promotion, o icers exiting the profession,
and the complicated and often mixed-messages of expectations from communities
and politicians continually fatigue line o icers and support personnel as well as police
executives.
There is no denying the crisis in the profession to maintain proper or adequate sta ing
levels. As the profession is forced to respond to increasing demands and responsibilities,
often unfunded, the knowledge skills, and abilities necessary for new o icers’ increase.
Complexity of the job only makes recruiting, training, and retention of new o icers
exponentially more important. Recruiting, selecting, and training new o icers, mostly
from GenZ, demands more attention, resources, and innovative strategies. This crisis
in sta ing is not limited to sworn positions. Overshadowed by the focus on finding
applicants for cops, our non-sworn ranks are su ering as well. In some cases, such as
dispatch, sta ing shortages create equally consequential challenges in continuing to
provide expected services to communities.
Police executives must keep their heads on a swivel watching for external threats,
proactively seeking solutions to recruiting and retention problems, all the while
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managing the “brush fires” that can ignite at any minute. The challenges of these stormy
seas are well recognized and accepted in law enforcement.
IT IS MORE THAN ANECDOTAL
The recruiting and retention is policing’s “canary in the coal mine.” In fact, the Police
Executive Research Forum (PERF, 2019) conducted an extensive study of the workforce
crisis in policing. PERF also identified the emerging threats to e ective policing, such
as new technology, policing the dark web, international crime, and the looming need for
police skill specializations.
PERF identified a triple threat to the police workforce. First, fewer people are applying.
Second, many o icers are leaving departments before retirement age, and increasingly
leaving the profession. Third, the growing number of o icers approaching retirement
eligibility is high. PERF’s study findings were released in 2019, before the impact from
COVID and the Defund movements. These threats have not diminished but have become
more dire long-term issues.
The number of agencies reporting recruiting and hiring issues are growing. When PERF
asked study agencies (N=403) if workforce shortages were the same in 2018 as in 2013,
41% reported increased recruiting and hiring issues, with 25% reporting “stayed the
same” over the time period. Assuming “stayed the same” equated to having challenges
recruiting the overall number would be 66%. The Florida Police Chiefs Association
(FPCA) was asked about recruiting challenges at their 2021 mid-winter conference with
78% reporting yes (n=44). More recently, 314 Texas agencies responded to a survey at
the Texas Commission on Law enforcement (TCOLE) annual training indicating that
91.7% of Texas agencies are experiencing recruiting problems. PERF did not specifically
address retention in their study, but the 2021 FPCA survey suggested 43% were
struggling with overall retention with a stark increase of 89.7% at the TCOLE October
2022 survey.
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The recruiting and retention quandary has been called a “Big Blue Onion”
having many complex layers to what may otherwise look simple. For
example, the way potential applicants from GenZ consume information, such as news
and marketing, is much di erent than previous generations. GenZ is the first fully digital
generation. Social media is their medium of choice. We, as a profession, must quickly
adapt and meet them in their space to connect.
Adapting to attract GenZ applicants is critical to stem the tide in the eroding ranks of
o icers. The applicant pool has far less military veterans and generational cops than
in the past. Fewer military veterans due to a reduced force and the military retaining
more as they face their own growing recruiting crisis. Fewer career cops, many from
generations of law enforcement, are no longer encouraging their kids to pick up the
badge amidst anti-police rhetoric. After all, jobs are plentiful, and pay is better in other
professions.
Perhaps the biggest threat is the large numbers of o icers, many with five (5) years or
less of service, leaving the profession. It is bad enough that cops may jump agencies. It is
also true that one agency always wins, and another loses in the transaction. But at least
from a law enforcement profession perspective, it is a wash. The growing phenomena
of o icers leaving the profession altogether worsens the situation. Agencies are already
fishing out the same depleted applicant pool. When someone leaves the profession, two
Complaints Older Managers have
about Younger Workers
• They work harder at getting out of work than
the e ort necessary to do the work.
• They ask “WHY” about every job assigned.
• They don’t want to “pay their dues.”
• They don’t have a sense of obligation to finish
a job. No extra e ort.
• Often call out sick and miss work.
• Committed only to themselves. No
commitment to the job or agency.
• They don’t respect authority.
• They want everything NOW.
Complaints Younger Workers have
about Older Managers
• They fail to provide regular feedback.
• They lack sincerity when they recognize good
behavior. They ignore bad behavior from
problem work employees.
• They demand employees do a job without
providing adequate training.
• They “micromanage.”
• They have an authoritarian approach. “My way
or the highway.”
• They fail to listen to opinions or ideas of
others.
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recruiters now toss their line back in the pool. These layers to the big blue onion are just
a few of many entangled and complex aspects that police executives and recruiters must
navigate without becoming overwhelmed.
Exit interviews of o icers changing agencies or leaving the profession share common
themes. Results from PERF, FPCA and TCOLE point to factors of morale, pay,
opportunity, and other “grass is greener” issues. The common factor determining
whether someone stays or leaves is morale. Those motivated simply by more money
are likely not viewed by other members as a loss, but unhappy o icers with diminishing
morale are also more apt to leave.
Another significant change in the workforce, between GenZ and earlier generations, is
a shift from money as a motivator to work-life balance and quality of life. Ask anyone
charged to fill overtime slots or o duty details how much money motivates today. It
can be said the “happy is the new rich.” The challenge for police executives is to chart a
course that meets the motivations of GenZ. While this is an often-frustrating struggle, we
cannot expect the new generation of o icer to simply adapt to us. They most commonly
do not and will leave. Adapting your agency, and culture, to be a more welcoming place
for new members while maintaining positive aspects of a health culture aligned with
agency mission is hard and takes time.
What to Do: Identify the Destination, Plot a Course, Share the Helm, and Train or Tread
Water and eventually Sink
Identifying the challenges and threats to the policing profession is not a di icult task.
Data supports what we all know. Most agencies struggle to meet minimum sta ing
without pulling o icers from specialty units. Getting volunteers for overtime is a
challenge, if not close to impossible. Allotting time for training, especially advanced
training, is a luxury that many agencies cannot support. These issues compound morale
issues and play a major part in the exodus from policing.
The real challenge is identifying and implementing solutions. It is easy to go about the
daily routine with the intent to address root causes when there is time. Humans are
generally change adverse and closed cultures, none more so than policing, hold firm to
tradition and rely on what has worked in the past.
The two most critical aspects that agencies can assess and actively respond are culture
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and leadership. Unfortunately, many agencies have left both on auto-pilot. In some cases,
it is because the workforce is so strained that “treading water” is the best an agency
can do. In other cases, culture and leadership development have simply been taken for
granted. Attrition, new members, and problem employees can amplify deficiencies in
culture and agency leadership.
Think of culture like a ship at sea. Leadership plots the intended course, and the agency
members all place a hand on the helm. When the course is set and everyone is aligned
in expectations and purpose, your “ship” is on course and maintains heading even in
stormy seas. In a healthy culture, when one member takes their hand o the helm (i.e.
retires) they are replaced by a new member aligned with the expectations and purpose
and the course is held.
Failing to recognize the power and influence of culture, neglecting its maintenance,
or not building a foundation of trust, through leadership, agencies face mutiny at sea.
Members all exert force on the course they think is best. Leadership can give orders
for course correction, but if the multiple hands on the helm take the ship another route,
it is chaos. Developing leadership throughout an agency builds the trust, sets the
expectations, shows the way, and leads to maintenance of a healthy culture.
What is Culture and Why is it Important?
First, it is important to operationalize culture. Culture is the aggregate of beliefs, norms,
attitudes, values, assumptions, and ways of doing things that is shared by members of
an organization and taught to new members. A culture is sustained with each successive
generation of leaders and followers. Culture is shared and adds functional meaning to
members through stories, artifacts, rituals, slogans, symbols, and special ceremonies.
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Policing is blessed to have a rich professional culture in these regards. Culture can be
created, or impacted by design, with proactive steps. Culture can also happen by default.
Historically, retirements and adding new members have been relatively consistent with
subtle shifts in generational focus. Today, turnover is fast-paced and the generational
di erences are more pronounced. The landscape of policing is much more complicated
than past generations. The profession is under constant media and activist scrutiny.
A little over 10% of the TCOLE agencies reported not having retention problems.
Exploring the reason they collectively pointed to the theme of positive culture.
Additionally, the key to maintaining the culture was agency-wide leadership. One can
imagine smaller agencies having easier paths for good culture, but there were mid-sized
and large agencies reporting culture as a key to retention. It is widely recognized that
culture can act as an “insulator” for agencies in times of challenge. These Texas agencies
serve as proof of the impact.
Moving the “Ship”
You can’t change a ship’s course quickly. The bigger the ship the longer the planning
and attention-to-detail. Smaller ships (agencies) can correct course much easier than
an aircraft carrier. If you are leading a smaller agency, you can more quickly enact
organizational changes. But changing course also alters the momentum of your agency’s
status quo and the routine of members.
There is a strange irony in law enforcement. Cops deal with chaos, conflict, and constant
change in their daily duty. Make changes in the physical environment, policy and
procedure, practices, or other aspects of the culture and cops meet it with anxiety. The
reason is often rooted in expectations and power. Cops expect the events in policing
their communities. Dealing with calls for service and other routine policing duties are
expected behaviors where cops maintain a sense of power over that aspect of their work
life. Internally, however, the consequences of change can be viewed as threats, both real
and perceived.
The keys to addressing changes are to be transparent, genuine, and include agency
members (sworn and non-sworn) in charting a course correction. If you are leading an
agency that experiences great disruption when exploring the need for change, chances
are your agency has a trust issue. Trust can be developed, or restored, through collective
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leadership. Below is an action blueprint to assist in charting change. If you are having
recruiting and retention issues, experiencing lower morale, and an increasingly fatigued
workforce, you cannot a ord to continue to tread water. If you do, you will eventually sink
and drown.
If you are concerned about your agency’s situation and recognize that your culture or
collective leadership can benefit from attention, start with self-reflection. Talk with your
command sta and agency leaders. Talk with members. Consider partnering with a local
university or finding a consultant with the skillsets that may facilitate change. If you see
that your “ship” is o course or taking on water. The time to act is now.
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ACTION BLUEPRINT
1. Identify the Destination
• Where are you? Where do you want to go? How to you get there?
• Consider a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
analysis or 2/ 2. focus groups. Avoid surveys.
• Involve agency members
• Key Areas: Recruiting | Retention | Training | Feedback |
Leadership | Development | Culture | Communication | Other
2. Plot Course
• What is your goal for each key area?
• Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-
Bound) goal setting.
• Who is accountable?
• Make it a team e ort.
3. Share the Helm
• Culture and leadership development require a Servant Leadership
approach.
• Micromanagement will kill any e ort.
• Defeat “They” and build “Us.”
• “Show the way.”
• Recognize and adhere to the leadership pipeline.
• Ensure members get adequate time in key roles.
• Don’t promote and leave in specialty units.
• Find GenZ members to lead social media.
• Share information with community.
• Recruiting
4. Train
• Recognize the importance of leadership, management, and
followership.
• Assist each member in their unique leadership pathfinding.
• Shift FTOs from trainer model to leader model.
• Better trainer outcomes, especially GenZ
• Hone leadership skills of FTOs toward supervision
• Strategically address dysfunctional teams.
• Invest in training for members. Make it happen. Find a way.
5. Maintain
• Recognize and celebrate member and agency success.
• Monthly, quarterly, and annual awards.
• Leverage the strengths of police collective culture.
• Hold people accountable.
• Build a culture of looking for positive performance.
• Immediately deal with problem children.
6. Repeat
• Revisit constantly
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References
Bender, L., Bender, M. (2021). Successfully leading local government teams: Mee ng the challenges of problem
employees. Lewis G. Bender.
Jones, M.A. & Blackledge, J. (2021). Law enforcement leadership, management, and supervision. Blue 360 Media.
Jones, M.A. (2021, January). Police Selec on, Field Training, and Reten on: New Reali es and Best Prac ces. Pre-
senta on for the Mid-winter conference of the Florida Police Chiefs Associa on, Orlando, FL.
Jones, M.A. (2022, October). Rethinking Strategies for Police Selec on, Field Training, and Reten on: The Game has
Changed. Presenta on for the annual conference of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE), Corpus
Chris , TX.
Pew Research Center (2011, November 23). The military-civilian gap: Fewer family connec ons. PEW Research.
h ps://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/11/23/the-military-civilian-gap-fewer-family-connec ons/
Police Execu ve Research Forum (PERF). (2019). The workforce crisis, and what police agencies can do about it.
Washington, DC: PERF. h ps://www.policeforum.org/assets/WorkforceCrisis.pdf
Dr. Marshall Jones leverages experience from
law enforcement, consulting, coaching, training,
and applied research to explore leadership,
organizational, recruiting, and retention issues.
He is the co-author of the book Law Enforcement
Leadership, Management, and Supervision
published by Blue360 Media.
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