On a chilly spring morning in mid-May, 1,600 Detroit police officers got out of bed and headed out to take the department’s biannual promotional exam. But even for those who are eligible, qualified and get a high score on the test, promotion may be a longer process because of the slow recruiting of new officers.

Last year the department announced that it needed 500 new officers, but now, a year later, only 26 new recruits have made the cut and joined the force.

The shortfall is part of a larger problem. Some experts say police recruiting also is down elsewhere in the United States, partly due to a drop in military recruiting because of the Iraq war. Police traditionally recruit military veterans.

Now, in Detroit, it’s time to promote qualified people who have done their time in patrol cars, and there aren’t not enough people to take their place. Currently there are 400 supervisor positions that need to be filled: 300 spots are open for sergeants and 100 for lieutenants, according to police spokesman James Tate. But with the recruitment of new officers still slow, some people might have to wait to be promoted to make sure there is someone new to take their place. “There’s not gonna be a surplus of sergeants and lieutenants sitting around with nothing to do,” Tate said. “We don’t pull everyone up at once. It’s very strategic.” He said there is always an 8-to-1 ratio of police officers to supervisors, and the department would never offset that while conducting promotions.

Continued – Tate said that because of financial hardships in 2005, the Detroit police laid off a lot of officers, some of whom are being called back to work now. “We are in the process of recalling some folks,” Tate said. “We’re discussing it with the unions, and it is understood that the department is able to finance them.”

The ironic part is that with a slow economy and other career options growing uncertain, it’s not enough to make qualified young people take a job as a cop. “The interesting thing is that even though the economy is in trouble, the problem is that you need people to work,” said John MacDonald, assistant professor of criminology at the Jerry Lee Center for Criminology at Pennsylvania State University. Some law enforcement agencies are looking to change their standards. “Historically the police department would exclude you if you used marijuana [ever]. … Now they changed their criteria to how many times you’ve used it — 10 times, five times.”

Departments all over the country are struggling to get new recruits, according to MacDonald. “Philadelphia wanted to recruit 1,000 new officers, but there’s no way that they’ll be able to accomplish that,” he said. He said the same thing is happening in Los Angles and other major U.S. cities.

MacDonald believes that while staffing is not in a crisis now, it will be a major problem in the next five years if departments don’t find a way to entice more new recruits. “We have to ask ‘what’s the long term effect?,’” he said. “The real fear is what’s gonna happen five years from now.”

As far as the recruitment effort in Detroit goes, things are still moving slow. But Tate hopes it will pick up in the coming months. “We have a class going on right now [at the police academy], and they’re going to start having one new class per month,” he said. “It’s just harder now because policing is just not that attractive to young folks anymore.”

Part of the problem may be a backlash from the war in Iraq, according to MacDonald. He said in recruiting, the key is finding eligible people, and for years the police have looked to the military for just that. “Mainly, recruiting in the past has been from active military service,” he said.  “Now, people are less likely to go into the military because of Iraq. No one wants to go to Iraq.” 

But there are other factors, some cultural, that have made police work less popular. Movies and TV have common depictions of the “bad cop.” “If there was a campaign from Hollywood glorifying what it’s like to be a cop, there might be more young people wanting to be police officers,” he said.

For some police departments, like Detroit, funding has always been an issue. And though they may be able to pay new recruits, they don’t have any room in the budget for pricey ad campaigns that would persuade eligible young people to join the force.

Tate said that because of financial hardships in 2005, the Detroit police laid off a lot of officers, some of whom are being called back to work now. “We are in the process of recalling some folks,” Tate said. “We’re discussing it with the unions, and it is understood that the department is able to finance them.”

The ironic part is that with a slow economy and other career options growing uncertain, it’s not enough to make qualified young people take a job as a cop. “The interesting thing is that even though the economy is in trouble, the problem is that you need people to work,” MacDonald said. Some law enforcement agencies are looking to change their standards. “Historically the police department would exclude you if you used marijuana [ever]. … Now they changed their criteria to how many times you’ve used it — 10 times, five times.”

Police departments all over the country have never had much trouble recruiting until recently, according to MacDonald. “Before you’d announce you’re hiring and people would show up; now it’s like the private sector,” he said. He also suggested an inexpensive advertisement tool police can utilize — the Internet. He suggested posting facts about health benefits, job security and police safety on sites like monster.com and social networking sites. “There’s ways to reach people that don’t involve paying a lot for advertising; they have to be nimble about it,” he said.

Retaining officers is another problem. Over the past five years, 1,000 officers have left the Detroit force, according to Tate. “What may be a problem for Detroit is that some officers may leave for suburban departments,” MacDonald said. “I imagine those departments pay better than the city does and are less dangerous.”

Tate said that of the 1,600 officers that took the promotional exam, a much smaller number will actually be promoted. “We have a smaller department now than in past, so 1,600 people taking the test is a much larger portion of the force now,” he said.  The 1,600 people that took the test made up about half of the entire Detroit police force, which Tate estimates is 3,000.  “There’s no way all these folks are gonna be promoted,” he said.

The exams are held once every two years and allow qualified officers to move up in the department if they get a high enough score. The promotional tests are not pass/fail, but are measured by ranking the top scores. Larger recruitment numbers would make promotions move faster, Tate said.

Anyone interested in joining may contact the Detroit Police Department at (313) 596-2660. There are basic requirements new recruits must meet, including drug screenings, a physical assessment and a written test.