A survey of issues in the recruitment, hiring and retention of law enforcement officers : Investigating the rural-urban divide

Authors

Morgan Steele, Fort Hays State UniversityFollow
Tamara Lynn, Fort Hays State UniversityFollow
Abigail Hayes, Fort Hays State UniversityFollow

Abstract

The continuing crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and issues surrounding disparate policing practices have illuminated an underlying issue facing law enforcement agencies: how to recruit, hire, and retain qualified officers. Using survey data from over 200 rural and urban agencies across three states, this article explores the various issues agencies have with recruitment and retention, paying particular attention to the apparent differences between agency type and size, as well as the extent of urbanization in the jurisdiction. The implications of and potential policy solutions to these issues are then discussed.

Document Type

Article

Source Publication

International Journal of Rural Criminology

Version

Published Version

DOI

10.18061/ijrc.v7i2.9370

Publication Date

3-28-2023

Volume

7

Issue

2

First Page

217

Last Page

234

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu

Recommended Citation

Steele, M. J., Lynn, T. J., & Hayes, A. A. (2023). A survey of issues in the recruitment, hiring and retention of law enforcement officers : Investigating the rural-urban divide. International Journal of Rural Criminology, 7(2), 217–234. https://doi.org/10.18061/ijrc.v7i2.9370