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Police Officer Recruitment
Discussion
This study represents the first application of the recruitment simulation technique (Rynes
& Barber, 1990) relative to the task of recruiting law enforcement personnel. Although this
investigation was grounded in an appropriate recruitment framework--the Rynes and
Barber (1990) applicant attraction model--the study was exploratory in nature due to the
lack of previous empirical findings addressing police officer recruitment.
The researcher made the assumption that the existence of a residency requirement
at the hiring police agency would influence job rating (dependent variable) negatively. A
residency requirement may limit the quality-of-life options for a prospective police officer.
Examples of quality-of-life options follow: (a) the quality of the local school system, (b) the
local crime rate, (c) the local housing market, including the cost of housing; (d) the resale
value of housing; (e) the quantity of housing in neighborhoods perceived as “good” (f) the
local tax rate, including real estate taxes, (g) payroll taxes; and (h) other miscellaneous
taxes. Another assumed disincentive of a required residency requirement is that police
officers and their families may become targets of harassment from individuals the police
officer may contact during the course of performing the law enforcement function and from
friends and family members of these individuals.
As the ANOVA results demonstrate, the assumption that a residency requirement
would be a disincentive to potential job applicants was not supported in actual participant
reactions. The researcher speculates the independent variable residency requirement
was not significant to the practicing police officers in this study for the following reasons:
the participating police officers role-played as applicants for a police officer vacancy by
imagining they were at an early stage in their career seeking an entry level police officer
position. It may be that quality-of-life options are a secondary consideration in the decision
making process for a potential police officer at the start of a career.
The researcher further speculates that the study participants’ age, number of
dependent children, and amount of job experience may be factor in lack of significance of
the residency variable not being significant. It may be that the police officer participants
with a mean age of 36, a mean number of children of 1.2, and less than 10 years job
experience were not as affected by quality-of-life issues as older and more experienced
police officers might be.
The researcher also assumed that the opportunity for job specialization would be a
positive incentive to potential job applicants. The ANOVA results suggest the assumption
that opportunity for specialization is a positive incentive to potential job applicants was not
confirmed. The possible explanation for the independent variable of opportunity for
specialization not being significant to practicing police officers in this study is the same
Professional Issues in Criminal Justice Vol 4(3 & 4), 2009 77