Law enforcement has been a calling and a job of service that has been a popular career choice. That is all changing. A surge in retirements is leaving law enforcement to scramble to find recruits.
Across New York, law enforcement is getting creative.
What You Need To Know
- Less than 5 percent of people who take the civil service exam for law enforcement will follow through to become an officer
- Police can retire in 20 years with full retirement benefits
- More police are retiring now, leaving police departments short
Lt. James Slayton from the Auburn Police Department says it’s a numbers game that they are losing. Slayton is in charge of planning and training for the APD.
“Our last exam, we had 189 people take the exam,” Slayton said. “Through the 19 steps that we have, the process before you graduate the academy, we ended up with nine people that passed the exam and all the steps, and that’s all we got out of the 189.”
Requirements can be rigorous, but agencies are trying to assist candidates in qualifying.
“We started doing like a prep agility,” Slayton said. We would give people the opportunity to come in, practice, learn what they need to work on before they come to take the actual agility test, which has never been done before.”
The number of people that wanted to serve a decade ago, though, is lower.
"You used to grow up wanting to be a policeman, fireman. Now we have to do everything we can to entice people to take the test,” Slayton said.
A new recruit shifted gears professionally to become a police recruit this year. Stephen Bennett is now a recruit police officer in Auburn.
“Right now, it is a difficult time for law enforcement, but I decided to get into law enforcement because I just wanted to give back to my community,” Bennett said. “I’ve grown up in Auburn my entire life, and Auburn has given me a lot of opportunities.”
The need is not isolated. Slayton says there’s a lack of interest across the state and country. The need is so great that it changed not only how they recruit, but where they’re recruiting.
“We’re taking lateral transfers, where before we never had lateral transfers,” Slayton said. “We’ve opened it up nationwide now.
“We have a 20-year retirement, which is great. We have great insurance. We have good backing by the administration. It is a good job, and you feel good once you’re doing it.”
The number Slayton needs to recruit, though, is three times the amount it was just a few years ago.
“The retirements we never had to deal with before,” he said. “With a small department like ours, you would hire one or two a year, and the test would last four years. We’re not even getting a year out of the test, because we’re hiring seven or eight at a time.
“We’re constantly in that recruiting mode. Even though we’re seven short now and we have a test coming back, we’re looking into next year for next year’s test already. Recruitment is a big issue, and trying to get the number of people to take exams that want to do this job.”
If you’re interested in a career in law enforcement, contact your local county or municipal personnel departments or click here to learn more from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice.
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