Most folks in central Florida know that hiring qualified people who want to work, and who want to stay and make a difference in their workplace, is tough. There are some interesting workforce dynamics going on—everything from a shrinking labor market, to changing public perceptions, to economic challenges—that affect employers’ abilities to hire the people they need to be successful.
In law enforcement, we are not immune from these employment challenges and we have several unique hardships that we must overcome in order to attract and recruit qualified candidates. I’m excited to say that we are overcoming those challenges and we are seeing more and more applications from young men and women who are actively seeking employment with us.
What are the challenges that we had to overcome?
1. Generational change: we are losing (and have lost) Baby Boomers from our workforce. For many years we relied on the traditional pro-public order Baby boomers as our workforce backbone. There are still a few left, but they led the way in retirements over the last 10 years. COVID accelerated the pace of retirements as well.
2. Speaking of COVID: Those of us in law enforcement still had to perform face to face, answering calls in the community and managing inmate populations in our jails. We could not work from home or keep people safe through Zoom meetings. COVID brought with it many challenges for law enforcement, including stress, health scares, and finding new ways to connect with the community while still keeping everyone safe. During and after COVID, the phenomenon known as The Great Resignation struck—millions voluntarily quit their jobs and many retired early. This affected us as well.
3. In the midst of the global pandemic, a tragic police in-custody homicide occurred in Minneapolis. George Floyd was killed by a police officer’s gross and reckless indifference and incompetence. COP haters seized on this rare and tragic event, setting off a summer of anti-police riots, resulting in a cascade of anti-law and order unrest.
The national media enabled a false narrative to take hold that questioned the role of law enforcement as an important pillar to a safe and secure society. The defund movement found support in large metropolitan areas. Anti-law enforcement voices were emboldened.
This far-left overreaction resulted in a very predictable outcome: in many places, people and neighborhoods became less safe. The fear of crime increased. Some police departments, in a knee-jerk reaction, retreated from successful police models and did the bare minimum.
Violent crime and property crime increased in many areas. Large metro areas saw the worst of it. Now, there is another predictable trend emerging: Pro civil-society, pro-law enforcement, pro-law-and-order sentiment is on the rise again, pushing back from the anti-cop hysterics.
Fortunately, in places like central Florida, and certainly in Polk County, our citizens didn’t fall for the anti-police rhetoric. But we are still fighting national negative perceptions, from a different perspective: Moms all around this nation saw on national media how easy it is for a cop to be insulted, injured, arrested, killed, or sued while in this profession, and some are warning their kids away from the profession. In Polk County we don’t see much of this, but there’s some.
Here is the truth: There are 800,000+ cops in this country, and 320 million people who have tens of millions of police interactions a day. These interactions are overwhelmingly positive. Negative physical contact between the police and citizens is extraordinarily rare.
There’s a recent Gallup poll that tells us the truth: 81% of Black Americans, 82% of White Americans, and 83% of Hispanic Americans, want the same or more law enforcement presence in their neighborhoods. Funny how this is contrary to what we see and hear on social media and mainstream media.
Back to our recruiting success: There are three main reasons why our recruitment efforts are working:
1) We are not pretending to be something we are not; we are a law enforcement agency leading the way in keeping our community safe and holding law breakers accountable. We don’t equivocate, or hem and haw about what we do: we stand for law and order.
We are the guardians at the gate. We stand between good and evil. We have high standards and a low threshold for unlawful foolishness. The men and women who apply here know that; and we will support them while they keep the community safe.
2) We are a match for a number of the top things today’s younger Millennials and Gen Z adults are looking for: They value purpose and a sense of meaning; they want skill development; they seek regular feedback; and they are looking for challenges. We have all of that and more.
Being a deputy in Polk County is exciting and challenging, we have outstanding professional training, we work in teams, we are a work family, and our profession’s foundation is public service and helping others—there are no careers more meaningful and valuable.
And interestingly, younger Millennials and Gen Z adults look at some of the financial struggles of their older peers, including job insecurity and high college debt, and they are adopting a more fiscally conservative approach: At our Sheriff’s Office we pay 100% of our members’ college education at the state rate, we have one of the most fiscally sound retirements in the nation, and we have great benefits and a competitive salary.
Our hiring pool also likes the fact that we offer schedules where deputies only work 14 days a month, we provide take home cars, and for those who are motivated by extra cash, there are great opportunities to work overtime and paid private details.
3) The people we serve in Polk County never bought into the anti-cop false narrative—our citizens overwhelmingly support our deputies and we love our community. We are successful in telling our own stories and we are marketing directly to our audience.
We didn’t used to have to market ourselves to our future deputies—we had folks lining up, wanting to be deputies. But now we are actively marketing, reaching our audience through streaming services, social media, and other internet-based platforms; and it’s working.
I’ve been in the law enforcement profession a long time and I can truthfully say that there has never been a better time to be a deputy than now. Our communities support us, our work is valuable and productive, and our crime is at an all-time 51-year low. Come join us!
Grady Judd began his career at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (Florida) in 1972 as a dispatcher. After transferring to the Patrol Division in 1974, he quickly progressed through the ranks – holding every rank from Sergeant to Colonel. Polk County overwhelmingly elected Grady to serve as Sheriff in 2004.
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