The loss of talent: why local and state law enforcement officers resign to become FBI agents and what agencies can do about it.

This evaluation conducted an analysis of the motivation for state and local law enforcement officers to leave their previous law enforcement positions to become FBI special agents. This survey examined motivation from the perspective of the equity, expectancy, and job design theories of motivation. The analysis revealed that there were indicators of perceptions of unfair treatment and inadequate reward in the special agent trainees' previous law enforcement positions. They anticipated improvements in these factors and for task significance and skill variety when they would become fully-trained special agents. The analysis reveals that there are specific organizational and leadership actions that law enforcement leaders can take to reduce turnover.

One of the most pressing demands on law enforcement leaders is that of recruiting and retaining qualified law enforcement officers. There is a considerable body of research on the causes of turnover in the private sector. However, there has not been a great deal of turnover research focused on law enforcement organizations. The unique characteristics of the law enforcement profession and of law enforcement organizations limit the value of turnover research from the private sector. This research focused on one specific aspect of turnover in state and local law enforcement organizations: why staff persons leave these policing agencies.

For any employer, retaining current employees is a critical aspect of human resources management. The most important questions related to this need are: (1) why do good employees leave and (2) what would it take to keep them from leaving? This research effort was directed at answering the first question, which led to several conclusions that may help agencies answer the second question.

The group of state and local law enforcement officers who leave their previous law enforcement positions to become FBI special agents is an identifiable portion of the larger range of officers who leave state and local law enforcement organizations every year. Examining this specific type of turnover offers several benefits.

First and foremost, these former state and local law enforcement officers have chosen to remain in the law enforcement profession. They are considered to be a high-quality group of law enforcement professionals. Further, they would be expected to be able to provide a high quality of insight into their experiences in their previous law enforcement organizations and the expectations of what they will experience as FBI special agents. This group, while representing a narrow portion of the law enforcement turnover spectrum, can provide insight into the broader picture of state and local law enforcement organizations throughout the United States.

The Problem of Turnover in Law Enforcement Agencies

Retention of personnel was a significant issue that was identified by The Major Cities Chiefs Association's Critical Issues Study Group that was created to study the most pressing issues of its members and to issue a report on those issues. (1) The report, Meeting Law Enforcement's Responsibilities, Solving the Serious Issues of Today, contained a chapter on recruiting and retention problems. (2) Within that chapter, Deputy Chief David Beam of the Marietta, Georgia Police Department said, "Recruiting and retaining professionals compatible for law enforcement duty is quite possibly the most difficult task facing law enforcement today."

The U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services Office has been responsible for administering grants that placed more than 100,000 new police officers in police departments across America. The effects of this program were studied by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center with regard to recruiting, training, and retaining police officers. Recruiting qualified candidates to fill unanticipated openings was reported to be a problem in more than half of small agencies and more than two-thirds of large agencies reporting. (3)

Koper et al. also indicate that these problems could become worse as the baby boom cohort begins to retire. (4) (The baby boom refers to the increased number of births between 1946 and 1964. (5)) In 2000, the first baby boomers were 55 years old and fast approaching retirement. The birth cohorts that followed the baby boomers, sometimes referred to as the X and Y generations, were much smaller. (6) These smaller birth cohorts slowed the growth of the labor force and created tight labor markets. A relatively large birth cohort, referred to as the baby boom echo, is currently progressing through America's school systems. The baby boom echo, while estimated to be as large as the baby boom cohort, will only serve to replace the baby boomers in the job market and not to reduce the shortage of workers. It is estimated that depending on the growth of work output per hour, the shortfall of full-time employees could range from 3.1 million to 10.2 million by the year 2010. (7)

A tightening labor market adversely affects police agencies just as it does any other employer. Increased competition for employees serves to increase the value of existing employees. As previously stated, retaining current employees is a critical aspect of human resources management.

Turnover Research

Turnover research began in 1910 and by the early 1980s there had been more than 1,000 studies done on turnover. (8) Hohm and Griffeth conducted meta-analyses of the antecedents of turnover. Their meta-analysis of 78 studies, involving more than 27,543 employees, showed that job satisfaction was related to turnover. (9) Additionally, they found that intrinsic/internal motivation, which is related to enriched work, was related to turnover.

Most research since 1958 has been devoted to developing a model of the process of turnover. These models describe turnover as a process an employee goes through. Hohm and Griffeth describe 12 major models of employee turnover. In each of these models, job satisfaction plays a central role in the process and recommendations for improving job satisfaction play a central role in reducing turnover. (10)

Individual Motivation

It falls to leaders in organizations to implement recommendations for improving job satisfaction. Many of the recommendations to improve job satisfaction come from the study of human motivation. Three theories, equity theory of motivation, expectancy theory of motivation and job design are reviewed in this article to set the context for this evaluation and subsequent recommendations.

The Equity Theory of Motivation

The equity theory suggests that we believe the outcome of exchanges should be equitable. Essentially, people believe that life should be fair. One of the most common exchanges that people engage in is work. A person works for an employer and in exchange the employer provides rewards for that work. The work is an input into the exchange and the reward is the outcome of the exchange. We believe that we should get out of the exchange an equitable return or outcome. (11)

Inputs take many forms. Each person brings to the work exchange gender, age, education, experience, skill, work effort and many other factors. (12) Outcomes, too, come in many forms and can have positive or negative valence. Valence is the attribution of desirability to a particular reward or outcome. The most common extrinsic outcome in the work exchange is money. Intrinsic rewards, such as satisfying leadership, retirement and other benefits, job status and other outcomes are weighed in evaluating the equity of the exchange. (13)

It is important to remember that the evaluation of this exchange is perceptual. The evaluation is based on what the individual perceives at any given moment as inputs and outcomes. This is highly individual. What one individual might consider as inequitable another may consider equitable. (14)

An individual perceives that inequity exists when he perceives that the ratio of his inputs to outcomes in comparison to another person's ratio of inputs and outcomes are unequal. It is again important to stress that this comparison is perceptual. It may be accurate or inaccurate. There are several reactions that are possible to this perception of inequity. These serve to restore the individual's perception of equity. (15)

A police officer might decide that the resolution strategy of leaving the field of law enforcement is the only method by which he or she can restore equity. (16) An officer may leave the field of law enforcement if the person he compares himself to is not a police officer. If the officer compares himself or herself to his or her brother-in-law who is a draftsman, who makes more money, who does not work the midnight shift, who has weekends off, and who is not in danger at work, the officer may decide to pursue a civilian profession instead of policing. If the officer compares himself or herself to an officer in another law enforcement agency who makes more money, who has better equipment, who has more career opportunities, and who has a better professional reputation, he or she may decide to pursue a policing career with that other law enforcement agency.

The Expectancy Theory of Motivation

Motivation or job satisfaction is related to one's perceived ability to achieve the requisite performance level that will ensure a desired reward. The three elements are expectancy, instrumentality and valence.