Student Reply #1

Dustin Johnson

introduction

Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to our first week of the discussion board. I know we’re all excited! Before I jump onto this week’s discussion board, I would like to share some encouraging words from our Lord. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13, ESV). In this week’s discussion post, we’re asked to post our statement of the problem that we’re going to discuss in our first writing assignment,  “Conflict Resolution: Part 1- Problem Description Assignment.”  In today’s society, I think the biggest conflict that needs a quick resolution is improvement in recruitment and retention efforts by law enforcement agencies across the United States.

Lack of Adjustment in Recruitment and Retention Efforts

This is a law enforcement problem that hits home for me.  I have been a law enforcement officer in the state of North Carolina for nearly 17 years, and I have law enforcement agencies suffering so badly from their lack of ability to recruit or retain their former employees.  When I started law enforcement in 2006, you had to almost beg to be hired for a position in law enforcement.  Law enforcement agencies across the state of North Carolina are crumbling due to their inability to change their recruitment or retention efforts before their department staffing levels drop to a critical level.  In 2021 a survey was conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum, which found that there was an 18% increase in the resignation of law enforcement officers, and a 45% increase in law enforcement officers opting to retire from their careers earlier than their original assigned date (The Link, 2023).  The most prominent reasoning for these officers leaving the law enforcement field was the following: seeking better employment outside of law enforcement, oversaturation of negativity surrounding law enforcement, pandemic fatigue, and being encouraged by their families to change careers (The Link, 2023).  The same survey found 78% of all reporting agencies reported having difficulty recruiting eligible candidates, citing fewer candidates applying for law enforcement positions (The Link, 2023).  Over half, 65%, of the agencies stated that recruiting efforts were more difficult than in the past, with 50% of the agencies having to change their policies to increase the number of qualified candidates that could apply (The Link, 2023).

The problem of recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers is not only effecting law enforcement agencies but also the surrounding communities. Scott Erickson, the Arthur of “ Addressing the Challenges of Recruiting and Retention in-law Enforcement,” pointed out how communities are being affected by low staffing issues in their law enforcement agencies. Mr. Erickson stated that law staffing problems are contributing to increased crime rates and social dysfunction in communities (Erickson, 2023). Fewer officers lead to a skew in crime statistics because they’re aren’t enough officers to report actual crime data, which may affect departments in grant funding from the government. According to Mr. Erickson, police departments are adopting policies that incentivize law enforcement officers’ careers, which had led to an increase in state and local government budgeting, and some of the smaller governments are unable to compete with larger governments (Erickson, 2023). This led to an increase in law enforcement mass exodus in smaller departments for larger agencies.

Christian Worldview

            In the Bible, our Lord tells us the following: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9, ESV).  The level of morale amongst America’s law enforcement officers is at an all-time low.  Law enforcement officers do not feel the need to continue in their careers because they’re led to believe that their peers hate them.  The mainstream media consistently portrays law enforcement officers in a negative light, leaving them no reason to believe that they’re needed, wanted, or cherished in their communities.  Christians need to band together and remind law enforcement officers of the word of God and encourage them to continue.  Remember the Bible tells us to do the following:  “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11, ESV).