Paper Example on Hardships in Police Recruitment

Recruitment of young men and women into law enforcement agencies is one of the most compelling selection processes that involve both physical and lawsuit considerations. Unlike other professions that demand fieldwork experiences that test the technical standards, such as academic skills and knowledge of recruits, selecting new individuals into law enforcement agencies focuses much on the agility skills of individuals rather than academic successes. Although the recruitment processes across most jurisdictions require recruits to have basic knowledge of high school education, the rookies' qualifications have been lowered to accommodate a large number of individuals seeking employment in law enforcement agencies. The increased number of individuals seeking employment in law enforcement agencies is the fundamental cause of the difficulties and hardships that confront the processes of selecting new individuals for law enforcement agencies. The challenges of recruiting individuals into law enforcement agencies in the United States are grounded on economic, social, and religious notions.

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Corruption

Police corruption during the selection of new police officers is a major problem affecting police agencies globally. Most of the United States' recruitment processes have faced significant criticism and public pressure that has pushed for the annulment of recruitment exercises due to corruption (Gilbert & Gilbert, 2017). During recruitment exercises, police corruption stems from myriad factors such as low pay, greed, an increased number of individuals seeking jobs in the agency, the inability of oversight bodies that audit recruitment processes, and the need to recover money used to secure employment in law enforcement.

Low pay

Low pays stand out as the critical cause of immense police corruption registered during police selection exercises. Most cities in the United States pay the police low wages averaging to $ 43000 per year(Kumssa, 2015). Such pays are minimal to cater for the increased family expenses such as food, medical services, schooling, and recreational costs. Improved food and medication prices require police constables to receive bribes while selecting recruits into law enforcement agencies. The bribes that the police sergeants receive are meant to uplift their increased cost of personal needs. When candidates are recruited, individuals on the lens of corruption mold police officers that are less concerned with safeguarding civilians' lives and property. Such officers engage in illegal practices such as leasing guns to criminals who use such weapons to perpetrate a crime on citizens.

Greed

Aside from low pays, greed is another notable cause that prompts law enforcement officials to receive kickbacks during recruitment exercises. Human needs are many, and satisfying one need results in the emergence of another want. For instance, when one constructs a house, they need furniture to furnish the same home. Such insatiable needs prompt police officers entitled to recruit new staff to take bribes in a view to settle their emerging wants (Gilbert & Gilbert, 2017). When recruiters need much money without having conventional means, they use recruitment exercise to receive bribes and accumulate the cash required. Thus, police constables that are greedy for money engage in corrupt malpractices to raise the required capital while supervising the recruitment exercises.

Increased Interest in the Law Enforcement Profession

The number of individuals seeking to join the law enforcement profession has significantly increased in recent years. Due to an increase in birth rates and reduced mortality rates, the population of youths has increased, causing a subsequent rise in the number of individuals seeking to work in law enforcement organizations. On the same note, the low level of education needed for one to join law enforcement agencies is also another integral factor that motivates youths to join the law enforcement profession. Notably, young adults are required to have a minimum level of high school education with low grades.

The low level of education required and the increased number of individuals seeking employment in law enforcement blend the endless corruption that is registered during the recruitment of new individuals into law enforcement agencies. Since the available posts for individuals that seek law to join law enforcement professions are low while individuals seeking those posts are in thousands, the recruiters use the minimal chances to demand bribes before offering job seekers an opportunity to join the law enforcement profession (Kumssa, 2015). Consequently, instances, recruiters select individuals who are physically fragile to join the law enforcement agency. Such recruits lack the agility skills needed to pursue suspects and arrest them.

Inability to Supervise the Recruitment Process

There has been a growing concern about the need to supervise the recruitment processes during the police selection exercises due to increased corruption malpractices. In the past two decades, recruits' selection processes to join the law enforcement profession have been marred by corruption and dishonesty due to limited oversight bodies. The number of individuals selected to supervise and audit the recruitment processes in a view to uncovering instances of corrupt malpractices is low. Since the selection exercises take place in different locations, managing all recruitment processes becomes difficult. As such, police officers that recruit young men and women into the agency are motivated to receive bribes to award jobs to job seekers in the law enforcement profession (Gilbert & Gilbert, 2017). Consequently, police constables recruit individuals that are unfit and leave aside those that have the morale of working genuinely to keep law and order.

The Need to Recover Money

Most police constables who supervise the entire selection of recruits joined the law enforcement profession through corruption. The corrupt malpractices in law enforcement agency is a lifelong and intergenerational vice. Those who join the law enforcement agency through corruption also demand bribes when offering available law enforcement positions (Kumssa, 2015). For instance, if police officers that joined the force through corruption are given a chance to recruit junior staff, they will also seek bribes to recover the economic costs incurred while joining the law enforcement organization.

Racism

Racism is another difficulty embodied in the process of selecting new law enforcement officials. Although the United Nations Convention on the selection of the law enforcement agency outlines that the process of recruitment has to be vested on values of integrity, transparency, and goodwill, most recruiters denounce these values and select individuals based on racial backgrounds. In the United States, African Americans have always been viewed as individuals with criminal profiles.