Retirements, other attrition and the residual effects of a past hiring lag have left the Little Rock Police Department with dozens of officer vacancies.
But finding enough qualified applicants to fill the vacancies has been a challenge for the department's recruiter, Capt. Heath Helton, who said the publicity and protests related to events involving police in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and New York have had a dampening effect on police recruiting.
Helton also said it has been a challenge recruiting millennials, many of whom, he said, don't seem to want to make the long-term commitment to a profession like previous generations.
"I think whoever can come up with a solution to deal with that stands to make millions," Helton said of recruiting millennials. "Because everybody will come to your door."
The department now has 58 officer vacancies on a force of just over 500 officers, not including the current class of recruits in the police academy, he said.
"It's unfortunate we're in a bad situation right now, manpower-wise, but I think everything swings in a pendulum," Helton said.
That many openings in the ranks has an effect on police response times and the overall visibility of officers in the city, Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner said. He said the vacancies mean fewer officers are available to attend outreach events and force police to focus on their primary obligations, such as responding to 911 calls.
"When you have that large of a number, everyone is carrying vacancies and operating with minimal staffing levels," Buckner said. "This is something that is taxing for us as a police agency."
To meet the department's goal of 40 applicants in a recruit class, Helton said he needs about 1,000 applications.
But for the latest recruit class, he only received 749 applications, and only 33 of them were approved to start the police academy. Of those 33 recruits, 31 are expected to graduate from the academy on Aug. 5 and join the department.
Another recruit class is scheduled to start this August. Helton said the department only received 647 applications, and he expects 25-30 applicants to move on to the police academy.
In North Little Rock, officer Carmen Helton has seen the same trend with millennial applicants. The department has five officer vacancies and is authorized for a total of 186 officers, Carmen Helton said.
Carmen Helton, who is married to Heath Helton, said it's more difficult these days to find candidates who want a long-term career in law enforcement rather than just a job. She said older generations would make a commitment to a career and stay until they retired, something that seems harder to find among millennials.
Heath Helton said protests in places like Ferguson -- where a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager -- have prompted negative perceptions of law enforcement in some circles.
While the protests have played a role in recruiting, Buckner said, there are many more factors that go into whether somebody wants to become an officer, such as other job opportunities and their past experiences with police.
"Law enforcement is historically always a difficult profession to recruit for," Buckner said. "Even more so when the economy is doing very well."
As the economy has improved and the unemployment rate has fallen, Buckner said, recruiting for law enforcement becomes more of a challenge.
Carmen Helton said police departments in central Arkansas compete with one another for qualified candidates. Sometimes, she said, it comes down to which agency calls first.
One time, she walked into the Little Rock police training building to visit her husband and found an embarrassed North Little Rock applicant applying to her husband's department, she said.
"We're all, in central Arkansas, fishing out of that same pond." she said.
Heath Helton said police departments also face competition from larger metropolitan agencies.
"It makes it difficult to compete, when you've got an agency like Dallas coming in saying 'We'll give you a $5,000 signing bonus,'" he said.
Years ago, there was a hiring lag in the Little Rock department because of budget constraints and some departmental reorganization, Helton said. In 2011, the department only hired six police officers. The present high number of vacancies is the result of that hiring lag combined with officer retirements and other attrition, he said.
Although the hiring hiatus happened before he came to Little Rock, Buckner said it will take years to recover from it.
Before beginning training at the police academy, Little Rock applicants face a six-month process of tests and interviews, along with a background check.
Heath Helton said the department is actively recruiting Hispanics and women who are members of minority groups. Recruiters talk with community and church leaders, he said.
Buckner said the Police Department held a citizen's police academy for women earlier this year and in the past has organized a police academy for Hispanics.
"Diversity is an intentional act, it will not accidentally happen," said Buckner, who gave his department a B-minus grade for its diversity.
Before going to the police academy, Little Rock applicants must pass a written exam, physical fitness test, a structured interview and then a background check, along with a polygraph test. If they are recommended for hire, applicants then move on to an interview with police command staff and if approved, continue on to medical and psychological examinations.
After they are hired, the recruits spend 24 weeks at Little Rock's police academy and upon graduating, spend an additional 12 weeks working with a training officer on the street.
At the Pulaski County's sheriff's office, spokesman Capt. Carl Minden said the office does not have physical or written exams for applicants as a way of streamlining the application process. He said the department also tries to hire certified officers, who do not need to attend a law enforcement academy and instead go through six weeks of field training with the department.
"There is just a minimal amount of training we have to do with them," Minden said, noting that 80 percent of the deputies hired by the sheriff's office are certified officers.
Whether certified or not, Minden said applicants must pass a background check and a drug screening, along with psychological and medical screenings.
While North Little Rock and Little Rock offer higher salaries, Minden said the sheriff's office offers perks, such as take-home vehicles and 12-hour shifts. Starting salary for a recruit in Little Rock is $40,900, while the starting salary for a deputy in Pulaski County can range from $31,000 to $36,000. North Little Rock by comparison offers a starting salary of $38,600 for officers.
In Little Rock, Heath Helton said the department is preparing for a wave of retirements over the next few years, so they plan to run recruit classes for the foreseeable future.
"I think eventually we will get caught back up to where we need to be," he said. "It's just going to take a little bit of time."
Metro on 06/20/2016