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Research Paper: Thesis Statement and Annotated Bibliography
Liberty University
CJUS550_B02_202230
Instructor
Date
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Abstract
This research outline is developed for a study on the topic titled "Police Recruitment and
Retention". Most police departments in the U.S. are facing the problem of staff shortages, high
turnover rates, and difficulty in recruiting and retaining their police officers. The problem causes
poor efficiency in police departments in terms of delivering community policing and law
enforcement. The annotated bibliography provides an overview of research evidence from 8
sources. Proposals such as a change in recruitment strategies, organizational culture, and
community engagement are some of the solutions found in the literature that can help to address
the problem.
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Research Paper: Thesis Statement and Annotated Bibliography
Proposed Topic: Police Recruitment and Retention
The research study will be conducted to investigate the problems associated with the
recruitment and retention of police officers and ways of improving the practice to increase the
staff numbers and reduce the high turnover rates in law enforcement agencies.
Proposed Thesis Statement
Police departments all over the U.S. are facing various challenges in terms of recruitment
and retention of their officers, which threatens their effectiveness and reliability. These problems
include fewer applicants seeking law enforcement jobs, high rates of resignations and
retirements, low number of female officers, poor police image before the public, and high
turnover rates, among others (Linos & Riesch, 2020). The issues have caused most police
departments to operate below capacity, which prevents them from providing effective
community policing and law enforcement services. Police departments would need to develop
better policies and strategies to address the problem in their respective jurisdictions. Identifying
and analyzing the problems causing poor recruitment and retention of police officers is important
to help in creating effective approaches and policies to address the problem.
Preliminary Bibliography
Callender, M., Cahalin, K., Cole, S. J., Hubbard, L., & Britton, I. (2020). Understanding the
motivations, morale, and retention of special constables: Findings from a national
survey. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 14(3), 670-685.
https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pay058
Carrier, J., Bennell, C., Semple, T., & Jenkins, B. (2021). Online Canadian police recruitment
videos: Do they focus on factors that potential employees consider when making career
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decisions? Police Practice and Research, 22(6), 1585-1602.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2020.1869549.
Chevremont, M. J. (2019). Millennials in policing: Recommendations for reshaping the
workplace to recruit and retain millennials in law enforcement [Master's thesis]. The
University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/78871/Chevremont,%20Michael.pdf?
sequence=1.
Durbin, R. A., & Cox, A. (2020). Signaling diversity: A study of recruitment strategies for female
and minority police candidates. Management, 8(4), 01-05. DOI:10.26438/wajm
Edel, S. F. (2018). "Representative bureaucracy" in police hiring practices: A case study of a
diverse police agency [Doctoral dissertation]. The University of North Dakota Theses,
Dissertations, and Senior Projects. https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=3205&context=theses.
Linos, E., & Riesch, N. (2020). Thick red tape and the thin blue line: A field study on reducing
administrative burden in police recruitment. Public Administration Review, 80(1), 92-
103. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15673.62565
Roe, C. (2020). Effective officer retention practices: A systematic review [Doctoral dissertation].
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
https://www.proquest.com/openview/e42ef8504833eb656f9ca3725a93bb38/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=51922&diss=y.
Yu, H. H. (2018). Gender and public agency hiring: An exploratory analysis of recruitment
practices in federal law enforcement. Public Personnel Management, 47(3), 247-264.
DOI: 10.1177/0091026018767473.
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Annotated Bibliography
Article 1: Callender et al. (2020): The researchers conducted a study to determine factors
associated with the retention, motivation, and morale among Special Constables in
England. The researchers used survey data of Special Constables carried out nationally in
England and Wales. The researchers found out that new strategies should be employed in
areas such as recognition, skills recognition and utilization, appreciation, supervision,
fairness, and professional and role development to improve retention of special
constables and attract recruits. The study will be important in explaining the areas that
affect the retention of police officers and new strategies that can be employed to recruit
younger people into the force.
Article 2: Carrier et al. (2021): The researchers conducted a study where they evaluated online
recruitment videos from Canadian policing organizations to determine whether they
capture the aspirations of applicants when making career decisions. The researchers first
did a literature review where they identified factors such as financial compensations and
benefits, proper organizational management and reputation, job security, opportunities for
development, job flexibility, and meaningful and fulfilling work as factors that people
consider when making career choices. They evaluated the recruitment videos on whether
they addressed these factors using a coding framework. The researchers found out that
only 23% of these factors are considered in the videos from 27 organizations. The study
will help describe areas of consideration to improve police recruitment strategies and
employee retention.
Article 3: Chevremont (2019): The researcher argued that millennials have little interest in law
enforcement jobs, contributing to shortages in police officers in the U.S. The researcher
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sought to understand the problem through empirical research by examining the
generational preferences of the millennials regarding law enforcement to find out ways of
improving their aspirations of being police officers. The researcher found out that police
culture, structure, and leadership were in direct contradiction with the desires of the
millennials, who seek for flat organizational structure, an inclusive and creative work
environment, and transformational leadership. The article will be useful in defining
strategies to improve the recruitment and retention of young people in police forces.
Article 4: Durbin & Cox (2020): The researchers conducted a study where they evaluated how
the Signaling Theory can be applied to recruit and retain more female and minority
groups in law enforcement agencies. The researchers found out that most minorities
consider law enforcement agencies as less visible or do not engage them enough, they
have little representation in these organizations, and little communication with the
agencies before and during recruitment exercises. The researchers recommended that law
enforcement agencies should engage the communities more, hire a greater number of
women and minority groups to increase representation, and engage the applicants during
recruitment drives. The study will be useful in developing methods of enhancing the
recruitment of more minority groups and women into the police force.
Article 5: Edel (2018): The researchers conducted a mixed-method study to evaluate the
methods used by a law enforcement agency in the American Midwest to recruit, employ,
and retain a representative population of officers from its community. The descriptive,
single case study applied triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods to collect
data from participants. The researcher found out that the agency was successful because
of having a Human Resource Office that hires officers from all community groups, using
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a targeted recruitment effort, goal-setting during the recruitment drive to attain a
representative population, and regularly applying changes in the hiring process. The study
will be useful in assessing new ways of hiring more people from minority groups into the
police force.
Article 6: Linos & Riesch (2020): The researchers evaluated the effect of administrative burden
on the hiring process of law enforcement officers in terms of the likelihood of one being
hired. The researchers used field experiments and administrative collected over four years
to analyze the phenomenon. The researchers found out that simplifying the recruitment
process increases compliance, participation, and the likelihood of recruits getting hired.
The study will be useful in describing the problems associated with the hiring process for
police officers and how to simplify it to improve recruitment success for applicants.
Article 7: Roe (2020): The researchers conducted a systematic review of studies from 1999 to
2000 to identify factors that contribute to service longevity and retention of police
officers. The researchers found out that organizational culture was key to achieving these
goals, where developing values and mission, creating leadership that espouses these
values, hiring officers who agree with these values, and providing benefits that show the
population's appreciation for following the values, were essential. The study will help in
describing changes in organizational culture that can be adopted to improve the
recruitment and retention of police officers.
Article 8: Yu (2018): The researcher conducted an explorative and descriptive study to
comprehend the recruitment processes at 32 federal law enforcement agencies to
determine factors that affect the recruitment of women and minority groups into the
police force. The researchers found out that most law enforcement officers are not
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directly recruited into the agencies, which reduces the likelihood of women and minority
groups getting jobs in police departments. The researchers recommended a change in
recruitment strategies for law enforcement agencies by directly getting people from the
community instead of retiring soldiers, which helps to increase representation. The study
will be useful in identifying factors that result in a low number of women and minority
groups in law enforcement agencies and ways of improving their representation.
