Draft report advises LR police on hiring
After months of work, outside consultants have outlined dozens of recommendations to help Little Rock police address a “severe” shortage of officers.
The 72 vacancies — on a total authorized force of 590 — have increased police response times and reduced the visibility of officers in the city, officials have said.
Consultants with the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Virginia-based Human Resources Research Organization found that Little Rock police face strong competition from other organizations and a reduced supply of qualified applicants. It’s a challenge police departments throughout Arkansas and across the U.S. struggle to address, law enforcement officials said.
The consultants’ recom-
mendations were laid out in a draft of a review of the department’s hiring and recruiting practices.
The report calls for a more “collaborative” hiring process between the city’s Human Resources department and the Police Department, and recommended the department use a more holistic approach to determine a recruit’s qualifications.
Consultants also recommended creating a brand for the department, and urged officials to establish an “everyone is a recruiter” philosophy throughout their ranks.
“It was very comprehensive, and that’s what we wanted, and that’s what we needed,” said Little Rock City Manager Bruce Moore.
The city’s Board of Directors commissioned the review in July for just under $120,000.
Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner has said in the past that the vacancies force officers to concentrate on primary obligations, such as responding to 911 calls, and it means fewer officers are able to attend outreach events, which play a role in community policing.
Buckner declined to comment on the draft of the report, but said through a spokesman that the department plans to implement the industry’s best practices once the final report is released.
The final report is expected to be released in the upcoming weeks.
Moore said the recommendations will not make it easier to become a Little Rock police officer.
“We are not going to lower our standards at all, and that’s very important,” he said.
The external review comes as Little Rock and major U.S. cities — including Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. — have reported manpower shortages.
Police departments face strong recruiting competition from other organizations, such as security firms and the military, along with other law enforcement departments, according to the review.
The pool of qualified candidates has decreased in recent years, the report said, as more candidates have a history of substance abuse or criminal infractions, even if they are minor violations.
“Moreover, younger generations are less likely to have a taste for the regimented life of police officers, than older generations seem to have been willing to endure,” according to the review.
Trumann Police Chief Chad Henson said every police department in Arkansas faces a recruiting challenge as the number of applicants has dropped drastically in recent years.
“We are struggling to find some sort of recruiting technique,” said Henson, who also serves as president of the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police.
Careers in the private sector can offer a higher salary, Henson said, and the stressful nature of law enforcement can make it a difficult job to recruit for.
“Every chief I know in the state of Arkansas is giving it 100 percent” when it comes to recruiting, he said.
Little Rock police announced this year that they would provide a $5,000 signing bonus to recruits who complete the training academy. The bonus would be added to an entry-level officer salary of $41,432.
In a Facebook Live session Tuesday, Buckner said eight entry-level recruits received the bonuses because the department “needed to do something to make ourselves more competitive” in recruiting.
Moore said the bonus was also prompted by the changing public perception of law enforcement and the evolving nature of the career.
In North Little Rock, the Police Department this month began a revamped recruiting program designed to speed up the hiring process for entry-level officers. The program also aims to attract experienced officers through financial incentives.
Officers who join with at least five years of experience now start at $45,749 per year, while officers with at least two years start at $40,600.
In Little Rock, the department loses dozens of sworn officers every year and has “severe” staffing issues, according to a draft of the report. The department reported that 59 officers separated from the force in 2015, according to a draft of the review.
The report said officers separated from the department through retirement, resignation, termination, and for medical reasons.
The vacancies are noticed throughout the department, according to the report, including in the Training Division. The division, which handles the recruiting and training for the department, is down half of its authorized personnel, the report said.
After some initial comments from consultants, Moore said the department moved three uniformed officers into the Training Division to help with the process.
The review also recommended reducing the number of dropouts during the training academy and increasing the amount of highly qualified applicants.
The department needs about 1,000 applicants to fill a recruit class of 50, but a recent hiring process garnered only about 450 applications, the report stated.
The review stated that data from the city’s Human Resources Department and the police department revealed a “complicated and often inefficient hiring system.”
“Rather than working in a fully collaborative fashion to achieve a common goal, the two departments often appear to be working in a disconnected fashion,” according to a draft of the report.
Moore said the analysis came as a surprise, but mentioned that’s why he wanted an outside review of the practices.
“It’s very important that all of our departments work very closely together,” Moore said.
He said the departments will be on the same page going forward.
The report called for the police department to create a brand and establish a department-wide
everyone-is-a-recruiter philosophy.
To address recruiting needs, the report urged the department to use youth outreach programs, such as a cadet program, to recruit and promote the department’s image.
The review also recommended using community liaisons to broadcast police recruitment efforts and urged the department develop an “elevator speech” that all Little Rock police could recite to a potential candidate.
In a statement, the IACP emphasized that the review provided to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was a draft and is subject to change.
“[It] has not been finalized, it is incomplete, and it is subject to revisions and corrections,” according to the statement.
Moore said the substantive parts of the draft are expected to remain the same, and the draft was provided to the city to clean up any typos and any other small mistakes.
Moore said he is confident that the recruitment strategy and the review of the practices will have a positive effect on reducing the vacancies.
“I do feel good about the direction we are going,” he said.