In the field of public safety, attracting and keeping quality personnel has never been more challenging. Agencies across the country are struggling to fill vacancies, competing not only with other departments but also with shifting worker expectations. The days when a department would see lines of eager applicants spontaneously forming to fill a single opening are long gone. Instead, departments must now actively market themselves, engage with potential candidates and create a workplace environment that encourages long-term retention.

In the recent webinar “Attract, Engage, Retain: Proven Strategies for Public Safety Recruitment,” Tamrin Olden, CEO of TOC Public Relations, provides a roadmap for recruiting success. Recruitment, she says, is not just about filling positions — it’s also about strategically attracting the right people, keeping them engaged and fostering a culture where they want to stay. Following are some key insights from the webinar along with practical steps you can take to improve your hiring and retention efforts.

1. The state of public safety recruitment: The challenge is real

Olden opened the discussion with a reality check: Public safety recruitment is harder than ever. Agencies are seeing fewer applicants, increased competition and greater difficulties in shepherding candidates through the hiring process. “We used to have lines out the door for just one or two openings,” she notes. “Now, we have multiple vacancies and fewer people who can pass the process.”

According to Olden, several important factors are contributing to this shift in the employment pool:

• Fewer qualified candidates. Many agencies report seeing large percentages of applicants fail to meet background requirements, disqualifying them before they even reach the academy.
• Competition is fierce. Some agencies are aggressively “poaching” officers from neighboring departments by offering better pay, benefits or work-related perks.
• Changing generational values. Younger members of the workforce tend to put a higher priority on work-life balance, career growth and organizational culture over simply having a stable job.

With so many departments trying to fill open positions, Olden says, recruitment efforts must go beyond simply posting job openings and hoping for the best. The most successful agencies are those that actively market themselves and make efforts to differentiate themselves from others.

2. Developing a recruitment strategy: A purpose-driven approach

Olden emphasizes that a recruitment strategy isn’t just about posting jobs — it’s about branding, marketing and outreach. When putting together a plan to take your recruiting to the next level, you might ask yourself:

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