31

RECRUITMENT

A task as important as the recruitment and selection of law enforcement personnel should be approached from a positive viewpoint. Agencies, through the authority of their respective governments and administrations, should identify and employ the best candidates available, not merely eliminate the least qualified. The benefits of effective recruitment and selection policies are manifested in a lower rate of personnel turnover, fewer disciplinary problems, higher morale, better community relations, and more efficient and effective services.

The recruitment standards of the law enforcement accreditation process have embraced several important philosophical concepts in this chapter. The first concept is the expectation that an accredited agency will be an equal opportunity employer. eeo understands equal opportunity as the removal of barriers that prevent people from being treated fairly for employment purposes.

The second concept is the expectation that the agency’s sworn work force will be representative of the available workforce in the agency’s service community relative to its ethnic and gender composition. if any group is underrepresented, the recruitment plan will include proactive steps to encourage members of that group to seek employment opportunities.

Under the accreditation program, the recruitment plan does not mandate hard quotas, such as hiring one female for every two males hired, nor is an agency expected to lower legitimate job-related hiring standards or criteria. Agencies are never expected to hire an individual who is not qualified to perform the duties of the job involved.

Agencies should be aware of several important assumptions that are built into the accreditation standards. Some standards are applicable only to those agencies with ongoing or active recruitment efforts. Agencies that only recruit to fill actual or forecast vacancies are relieved from continuous recruiting requirements but must comply with those standards that apply at the time of each recruiting campaign. However, two of the standards are operative for all agencies regardless of whether there are job vacancies: standard 31.2.1 establishing a recruitment plan if the proportion of minority group or women employees is lower than the proportion of these groups in the work force of the community, and standard 31.2.3 requiring an equal employment opportunity plan.

It is also understood that some agencies are required to handle their personnel through a state or local civil service merit system and are, therefore, linked to that system in the recruitment of law enforcement personnel. Obviously, every agency is obligated to comply with all applicable statutes and policy directives. However, the agency is required to show that the civil service agency upon which it depends is in compliance with applicable standards.

 

31.1 Administrative Practices and Procedures

31.1.1 The agency actively conducts, or participates in its recruitment program.

Commentary: When the authority for recruitment is shared with other agencies, the law enforcement agency should seek to involve itself directly or indirectly in all activities critical to the recruitment effort.

(M M M M)

 

31.1.2 Individuals assigned to recruitment activities are knowledgeable in personnel matters, especially equal employment opportunity as it affects the management and operations of the agency.

Commentary: Prior to initiating recruitment activities, recruiters should undergo a training program that provides knowledge and skills in the following areas: the agency’s recruitment needs and commitments; agency career opportunities, salaries, benefits, and training; federal and state compliance guidelines; the community and its needs (including demographic data, community organizations, educational institutions, etc.); cultural awareness, or an understanding of different ethnic groups and subcultures; techniques of informal record-keeping systems for candidate tracking; the selection process utilized by the central personnel operation or agency (including procedures involved in conducting background investigations and written, oral, or physical agility examinations); recruitment programs of other jurisdictions; characteristics that disqualify candidates; and medical requirements.

(M M M M)

 

31.2 Equal Employment Opportunity and Recruitment

31.2.1 The agency has ethnic and gender composition in the sworn law enforcement ranks in approximate proportion to the makeup of the available work force in the law enforcement agency’s service community, or a recruitment plan pursuant to standard 31.2.2.

Commentary: Recruitment steps should be directed towards the goal of approximating within the sworn ranks the demographic composition of the community that it serves.

Statistics on the composition of the work force in the agency’s service community are available from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the purposes of this standard, the agency may also expand its recruitment effort beyond the immediate service community.

(M M M M)

 

31.2.2 The agency has a recruitment plan for sworn personnel that includes the following elements:

a. statement of objectives;

b. plan of action designed to achieve the objectives identified in bullet (a); and

c. procedures to periodically evaluate the progress toward objectives and revise/reissue the plan.

Commentary: The recruitment plan should be written so that it can be easily understood and followed. The foundation of a successful recruitment drive should include strong management commitments, an analysis of demographic/geographic features of the agency’s service area, and specific knowledge of past recruitment efforts by similar agencies. The recruitment plan may be a part of the written directive system or a separate and distinct planning document. The plan should govern agency activities relating to recruitment during a specific period of time, which should not exceed two years without being reviewed and having objectives updated.

The objectives of a recruitment plan should be reasonable, obtainable, and directed toward the goal of achieving a sworn work force that is representative of the composition of the community it serves. The specific action steps contained in the agency’s recruitment plan should be reasonably likely to cause the agency to meet the objectives identified in the plan.

Examples of specific action steps that may be identified in an agency’s recruitment plan include:

- utilizing in the agency’s recruitment activities minority personnel who are fluent in the community’s non-English languages and are aware of the cultural environment, where this would be applicable;

- depicting women and minorities in law enforcement employment roles in the agency’s recruitment literature;

- conducting recruitment activities outside of the agency’s jurisdiction, when necessary, to attract viable law enforcement candidates. Restricting recruiting to the agency’s service area may limit the potential number of qualified applicants available from underrepresented groups; and

- conducting periodically a "career" or "information" night for a particular target group.

(M M M M)

 

31.2.3 The agency has an equal employment opportunity plan.

Commentary: The equal employment opportunity (EEO) plan should ensure equal opportunities for employment and employment conditions for minority persons and women. The equal employment opportunity plan should be based on an annual analysis of the agency’s present employment policies, practices, and procedures relevant to their effective impact on the employment and utilization of minorities and women. The equal employment opportunity plan, which may be produced in the form of a written directive, may contain such provisions as: (1) a strongly worded statement from the agency’s CEO that it is agency policy to ensure that all individuals should be given equal opportunity for employment, regardless of race, sex, creed, color, age, religion, national origin, or physical impairment; (2) a procedure for filing complaints relating to EEO; and (3) specific action steps that the agency should take to ensure equal employment opportunity is a reality, such as advertising as an "equal opportunity employer" or providing applications or testing processes at decentralized, easily accessible locations. The policies relating to harassment in the workplace may also be incorporated into the agency’s overall EEO effort (see.26.1.3).

(M M M M)

 

31.3 Job Announcements and Publicity

31.3.1 The agency’s job announcements and recruitment notices for sworn personnel:

a. provide a description of the duties, responsibilities, requisite skills, educational level, and other minimum qualifications or requirements;

b. advertise entry-level job vacancies through electronic, print, or other media;

c. advertise the agency as an equal opportunity employer on all employment applications and recruitment advertisements; and

d. advertise official application filing deadlines.

Commentary: The agency should provide the most accurate and precise job description possible to avoid undue delay and wasted time on the part of the agency and the applicant. When the most important performance dimensions are known, potential applicants are in a better position to relate their particular knowledge, understanding, and skills to those required by the position to be filled. The agency saves the time and expense of making determinations that the applicants could have made, had they been fully apprised.

The agency should ensure that job announcements do not set standards or criteria that even unintentionally screen out, or tend to screen out, an individual with a disability or class of individuals with disabilities, unless the criteria are job-related and consistent with business necessity. Job announcements should not set standards that cannot be specifically supported and should avoid general requirements such as "excellent health" or "no history of psychological or emotional disorders." (Refer to Section 102, Americans with Disabilities Act.)

(M M M M)

 

31.3.2 The agency posts job announcements for sworn personnel with community service organizations and/or seeks cooperative assistance from community organization key leaders.

Commentary: The agency should seek permission to post job announcements with community organizations that are in contact with individuals who are likely candidates for recruitment. The agency should seek to achieve broader dissemination and greater exposure of recruitment information.

(O M M M)

 

31.3.3 The agency maintains contact with applicants for sworn positions from initial application to final employment disposition.

Commentary: Agency recruiters should acknowledge receipt of all employment applications. Applicants should be periodically informed of the status of their applications. Applicant contacts should be documented and logged.

(M M M M)

 

31.3.4 Applications for sworn positions are not rejected because of minor omissions or deficiencies that can be corrected prior to the testing or interview process.

Commentary: Applications that are deficient should be processed routinely if the deficiency can be rectified prior to the testing or interview process.

(M M M M)