Anand Krishnamoorthy, Lane Boyte-Eckis
This study aims to show that defining job qualifications for law enforcement officers will allow agencies to hire the best candidates, reduce turnover, reduce recruiting expenses, and save taxpayers money. In managing any workforce, knowing what standards to apply when making crucial employment decisions such as hiring, terminations, and promotions are imperative. A job analysis can help determine what qualifications are essential, if not critical, for successful job performance. This study analyzes U.S. federal law enforcement positions using data from the fiscal year (FY) 2018 to evaluate and establish job qualifications relevant for successful job performance for these positions. In the fiscal year 2018, the Federal Occupational Health (FOH), affiliated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, administered a survey to evaluate job qualifications for federal law enforcement positions. The sample used for this research consisted of 117 current U.S. government federal law enforcement officials. The sample was chosen by a simple random sampling of the target population. The target population consisted of all U.S. government federal law enforcement officials who were officially on duty during F.Y. 2018. Studies show business organizations that pursue job analysis and solidify job qualifications as a planning strategy for human resource management tend to have a competitive advantage over organizations that do not make such provisions. The positive return could result from potential decreases in recruitment and retention-related costs. It is expensive to recruit, train and effectively deploy federal law enforcement officials. The direct financial costs include the loss of the performance and expertise of the law enforcement officers and the recruitment, screening, and training costs of replacement hires. A conservative estimate of replacement cost of a law enforcement officer comes from Wilson et al. (2010), who calculated that the average cost of selecting, hiring, and training a new officer was about $59,000 ($104,885 in 2022 adjusted for inflation). The problem is exacerbated by a low retention rate caused by prematurely departing officials who realize they are not "cut out" for the lifestyle that a career in federal law enforcement entails. Further, conducting this research project in foreign locales to analyze the worldwide applicability of this study's results could potentially serve as a research extension to the current study.