Recruitment, Hiring & Retention
Hiring Incentives for Recruitment
- Comprehensive benefits package
- Signing bonus
- Academy training & Paid salary during training
- Tuition reimbursement & student loan forgiveness
- Flexible schedule and potential for overtime
- Being part of a department with a good reputation
- Relaxed screening process and updated policies on tattoos, background investigations
- Professional development and leadership opportunities
Recruitment, hiring and retention of the best law enforcement officers is critical for a safe, thriving community. A diverse and inclusive agency workforce that reflects the community residents leads to increased trust, collaboration, and transparency. The COPS Office is working with other DOJ components and the Administration to help agencies evolve their recruitment and hiring process through new initiatives, policy changes and best practices implemented by innovative agencies.
Dispatch Articles

Increasing Your Department’s Womanpower: Tips for Recruitment and Retention
April 2022
Policing While Black and Female: Five Voices from the Field
March 2022
Reframing the Police Staffing Challenge: Strategies for Meeting Workload Demand
January 2022
Evidence-Based Policing: A Foundation for Strategic Recruitment
December 2021
Women Leading the Way in Tribal Law Enforcement
November 2021
Unsworn and Civilian Hiring
September 2021
Law Enforcement Recruitment Strategies: Reaching Out to Youth
July 2021
30x30 Initiative: Why we need more women in policing and how to achieve it
March 2021
Fit for Duty: The Women’s Leadership Academy
March 2021
Promising Practices on Recruitment and Hiring
September 2020
A Powerful Recruiting Incentive Child Care Support for Law Enforcement Parents
September 2020
Enhancing Recruitment and Retention in Anna, Texas
September 2020
What Makes a Good Alaska State Trooper?
September 2020
Ten Recruiting Tips for Finding Good Officers
September 2019
Podcasts - The Beat
November 2018
Gender Diversity in Policing
October 2018
Gender Diversity in Policing
June 2015
The Role of Labor Management in Law Enforcement
Other Resources on Recruitment and Hiring
Office of Justice Programs Resources
- Promising Practices in Police Recruitment, Selection, Training, and Retention 2020 (Video)
- Police Recruitment and Retention in the Contemporary Urban Environment 2009
- Cop Crunch: Identifying Strategies for Dealing with the Recruiting and Hiring Crisis in Law Enforcement 2005
- Hiring and Keeping Police Officers
- Hiring and Retention Issues in Police Agencies: Readings on the Determinants of Police Strength, Hiring and Retention of Officers, and the Federal COPS Program – (2001)
- Hiring and Retention of State and Local Law Enforcement Officers, 2008 - Statistical Tables
- Recruiting and Retaining Women Police Officers – The Message Your Organization Sends Matters | National Institute of Justice
- Women in Policing: Breaking Barriers and Blazing a Path