Running head: IMPORTANCES OF QUALIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONEL 1
The Importance of Hiring Qualified Law Enforcement Personnel.
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IMPORTANCES OF QUALIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONEL 2
Introduction
In contemporary law enforcement, there is a great challenge in recruiting and
hiring qualified law enforcement officers. The market has continuously experienced a
diminishing number of qualified officers to fill vacant positions in police departments. Low
supply of qualified officers may influence police departments to hire less skilled law
enforcement while forgetting the importance and advantages of working with trained law
enforcement officers only. It is increasingly important for law enforcement to employ qualified
law enforcement employees because it improves agency reputation, enhances professionalism
and efficiency, creates satisfaction, promotes effective decision making under pressure, and
encourages innovation and creativity, all of which increases law enforcement effectiveness.
Reputation
One of the most important reasons for hiring qualified law enforcement officers is that
they determine the quality of the law enforcement agency and thus increase reputation and
approval from the community. Officers are the most critical component of security agencies
because they interact directly with the customer. Law enforcement agencies provide security
services to the community members, and the quality of the agency will be reduced to the officers
that interact directly with the community as they provide services. Oliver (2014) argues that the
importance of human relation skills is so paramount that no level of equipment or agency
organization could replace it. This signifies the vitality and responsibilities of police officers as a
component within the entire law enforcement agency
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Thus, it is increasingly essential that agencies select qualified and quality law
enforcement officers because employees chosen at the entry-level become the future of the
organization. If officers entering the organization are incompetent, it means that the company is
equally not competitive. The public will judge the agency from the interactions it has with the
officers on the field and establishes whether the agency is useful or not. Good and quality
relations will increase public confidence and acceptance, which eventually raises the agency
reputation from the community it serves. Therefore, hiring qualified law enforcement officers
increases public approval, acceptance, and admiration from the community, as well as the
development of general positive feelings that increase publics’ positive perceptions about law
enforcement agencies.
Professionalism and Efficiency
Hiring qualified law enforcement personnel ensures that the field has officers with skills
and characteristics desirable for professional competency. One of the vital parameters for
establishing officers’ qualification is the level of education they have attained. Police officers
with certificates of better education attainment have characteristics that make them better in their
provision of security services to the society. Some of the advantages of officers having higher
qualifications include improved oral and written communication skills, higher tolerance and
professionalism, flexibility, self-confidence, among others. A study by Paterson (2011)
Summarized these excellent characteristics and concluded that officers with higher education
such as degrees are more humanistic and have higher service standards, which is characterized
by higher professionalism, integrity, legitimacy, accountability, and fairness.
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Such qualities mean that having law enforcement officers with higher qualifications
allows agencies to deploy law enforcement officers with regard for professionalism and
competence to the society to deal with complex criminal activities effectively. In the
contemporary world, law enforcement has become significantly challenging and complex as
crimes become complicated too. It requires officers with the highest level of skills and character
to deal with complexities of law enforcement amidst an increased need for accountability,
professionalism, and ethics. Given that higher education has been associated with most of the
excellent professional characteristics, it means that having law enforcers with higher education
qualifications is essential, as it improves enforcer’s professionalism and quality of practice.
Satisfaction
Another importance of having qualified law enforcement personnel is that it increases
personal satisfaction. Higher qualification, particularly in the form of education, builds a
foundation for law enforcers to be happy and satisfied with their professions by allowing them to
get a glimpse of what to expect in law enforcement practice during training or education process.
Understanding what to expect in the field, particularly in modern days where has complicated
forms of crimes minimizes the risk of officers getting negative practice surprises that could be
detrimental to officer’s view of police service.
Higher qualification improves officer’s satisfaction in several ways. Qualified law
enforcing officers have improved upward mobility, in that they move higher up on the
professional ladder easily and quickly. As they do so, experiences of new jobs, challenges, a
fresh view of things, and higher professional goals give them a fresh approach to practices and
eliminates monotonous work that is boring and distressing. As opportunity increases, qualified
IMPORTANCES OF QUALIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONEL 5
law officers become more satisfied with their job because of the opportunities they get in their
careers. Bruns and Magnan (2014) provide evidence that higher qualification in terms of
education has a close link with law enforce satisfaction. In the study, 65% of law enforcers
believed that there was a significant association between higher education qualification and
officer’s job satisfaction. Some of the reasons that the respondents provided for higher
satisfaction is the confidence that comes with higher qualification. As a result, officer’s work is
better, and job frustrations reduce, making the officer to have more satisfaction with their jobs.
Working with a satisfied group of officers has benefits that improve the overall
performance of the officers and the agency. Satisfied law enforcers exhibit higher levels of work
engagement, which has a trickle-down effect, thus encouraging further work related engagement
with teams, roles, community, and law enforcement agency. Officer engagement means the level
to which they are committed to their works roles and environment (Collins & Rocco, 2018).
Second, such engagement is a vital driver to an officer’s performance due to a better
understanding of roles and responsibilities and be excited about it. Apart from that, commitment
allows officers dedication to their work. Therefore, satisfied officers are highly productive and
efficient, a characteristic that is necessary for extending law enforcement services to the
community.
Effective Decision Making Under Pressure
Another importance of hiring well-trained and qualified employees is that such officers
are independent and discrete decision makers. Skilled law enforcers understand precisely what
they need to do and how to do it independently, without requiring much supervision. Law
enforcers make critical operational and practice decision daily because they work in incredibly
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dangerous and high stressing environments (Hine et al., 2018). Every day, the law enforcers
confront critical circumstances that demand rapid decision-making abilities that ensure decisions
are right and legal. Some of the conditions, such as facing a dangerous and armed criminal or
terrorist, are matters of life and death. The law enforcers have no advantage of consulting their
seniors or revising the ethical code of conducts necessary in making legal and ethical decisions
due to lack of time. Leland (2009) noted law enforcers mention that under pressure, they acted
without thinking or they ‘just acted’, showing incredibly pressurizing situations that need
decisions even without thinking much about it. In such conditions, all that law enforcers need is
quick and effective decision-making and judgment, which must be accurate, mainly because poor
judgment and wrong decision will give advantage to their adversaries.
Qualified personnel who understand their roles, responsibilities, and ethics can be trusted
to make the best possible decision in complex situations without making mistakes or risking the
reputation of the police agency. According to Leland (2009), preparing law enforcers through
education, training, and experience allows the law enforcement personnel to possess a character
strong enough to make a rapid decision effectively. The characteristics of a good decision maker
under pressure include the ability to maintain their calm, act with integrity, be efficient, and
achieve goals and objectives. The strong character highlights the importance of having qualified
law enforcers, for they can maintain effective decision making when working in overly complex
environments.
Innovation and Creativity
Having qualified employees increases innovation and creativity. There is an increasing
demand for innovation and creativity in law enforcement, a need that qualified personnel can fill
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effectively. In the 21st century, law enforcers are dealing with crimes that are far beyond the
conventional crimes. The advent of technology and the internet has created a new wave of
criminal activities such as cybercrimes, terrorism, and biological attacks, ransomware, hackers,
and viruses (Tzezana, 2016). This means that there is a need to develop new solutions to such
problems, because the traditional law enforcement methods and mechanisms may not be
effective in handling the new wave of criminal activities.
Qualified law enforcers are among the principal sources of innovation and creativity
necessary to combat new types of crime. Indeed, Ville (2011) suggested that training and
education are some of the significant sources of creativity and innovation, showing the need of
having qualified employees through training education, and experience. With such qualifications,
Officers understand their roles and methods of handling crimes through either experience,
training, or knowledge. As a result, they do not waste a lot of time wondering and thinking about
how to approach or solve general problems. It means that such law enforcers are quick in
discharging their duties and spare time while clearing their minds to think about other things
such as how to handle complex problems uniquely. In the processes, the officers have higher
chances of innovating new approaches and solutions to the emerging issues in law enforcement.
Therefore, employing quality law enforcement officers is vital as it improves innovation and
creativity.
Costs
Hiring a qualified employee is essential because it is less expensive and minimizes costs
of operation and recruitment. As noted earlier, trained law enforcers understand their obligation
in the service, which eliminates the need for training the recruits. Training is expensive in terms
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of time and resources that security agencies require to prepare the candidates. Even where there
are needs for training, qualified law enforcers have basic knowledge and understanding of the
service. As a result, they are easy to train, and they do not require much rigorous training, as it
would be when hiring a person who is not qualified.
Furthermore, qualified employees adapt quickly to the environment, and they are likely to
stay on the job after securing employment because qualifications through experience could have
painted a real picture of what to expect in law enforcement practice. Conversely, a less qualified
person may have a higher turnover, particularly if they find the actual practice is different from
their preconceived perceptions. A higher turnover rate is expensive for the company and has
implications on the costs of running the security agency. Therefore, it is increasingly vital to
higher qualified law enforcers because their impact on cost is favorable for security agencies.
Conclusion
Law enforcement officers work in an increasingly challenging environment that requires
a lot of competency, professionalism, and efficiency. Criminal activities are on the rise in the
US, as technology continues to introduce new and sophisticated rime trends. It is vital that law
enforcement agencies hire competent personnel who can combat criminal activities in the US.
Importance of hiring qualified law enforcement personnel include building a positive reputation
for the agency, increasing efficiency and competency, cost saving, improve innovation and
creativity, promote effective decision making under pressure, and allows benefits of employee
satisfaction. The benefits highlighted sum up to better law enforcement services to the
community due to the improved performance of the law enforcement agencies. Therefore, hiring
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qualified employees ensures that the entire law enforcement fraternity combats crime effectively
and professionally.
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Reference
Bruns, D., & Magnan, K. (2014). Police officer perspectives on higher education: Is the degree a
necessary ingredient for the performance and behavior of police officers. Journal of Law
and Criminal Justice, 2(2), 27-45.
Collins, J. C., & Rocco, T. S. (2018). Queering Employee Engagement to Understand and
Improve the Performance of Gay Male Law Enforcement Officers: A Phenomenological
Exploration. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 30(4), 273-295.
https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21255
Hine, K. A., Porter, L. E., Westera, N. J., Alpert, G. P., & Allen, A. (2018). Exploring Police Use
of Force Decision-Making Processes and Impairments Using a Naturalistic Decision-
Making Approach. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45(11), 1782-1801.
Leland, F. (2009). Critical decision making under pressure. Homeland Security Rev., 3, 43.
Oliver, P. (2014). Recruitment, Selection & Retention of Law Enforcement Officers. Looseleaf
Law.
Paterson, C. (2011). Adding value? A review of the international literature on the role of higher
education in police training and education. Police Practice and Research, 12(4), 286-297.
Tzezana, R. (2016). Scenarios for crime and terrorist attacks using the internet of things.
European Journal of Futures Research, 4(1), 18.
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Ville, S. (2011). Historical approaches to creativity and innovation. Creativity and innovation in
business and beyond: Social science perspectives and policy implications, 64-81.
