Your agency is recruiting. Candidates are applying. But slow processes, long background investigations, and internal friction lose them before you can hire.
Article Highlights
Most agencies treat public safety recruitment as a candidate supply problem. The assumption is if you can't fill positions, you need more applicants. Post more jobs. Attend more community events. Offer a signing bonus.
The 2026 Public Safety Workforce Trends Report by PowerDMS tells a more nuanced, if not different, story. Based on insights from 1,975 public safety professionals, the data confirms that finding qualified candidates is an issue—67% of respondents cite it as their top recruiting challenge. But that problem doesn't exist in isolation.
Nearly 37% of agencies also cite slow hiring processes as a top challenge. And background investigations often cause the longest delays, taking 30 to 90 days in 47% of agencies. Not only that, the recruiting tactics agencies use most often don't match the ones they report as most effective.
It’s tempting to oversimplify the problem in search of a solution, to say “we’re understaffed so we need more quality candidates.” But the National Policing Institute warns that framing the problem as a shallow applicant pool may be a dangerous misunderstanding.
The public safety recruitment crisis is also a systems problem, not just a supply problem. Yet many agencies keep investing in recruitment, filling a candidate pipeline with leaks in it.
In this article, we'll explore where those leaks are, why attraction strategies alone can't seal them, and what your agency can do to convert more candidates.
The top recruiting challenges in the 2026 report won’t surprise you. Finding qualified candidates leads at 67%, followed by offering competitive salaries (45%), slow hiring processes (37%), and misconceptions about the job (23%). On the surface, it may read like a supply problem.
The report's qualitative data complicates that reading.
Survey respondents described challenges like "finding qualified candidates with prior experience or transferable skills." This points to a lack of qualified applicants, not just a volume problem. Others discussed "recruiters sending unqualified candidates for interviews," which suggests an issue with the screening process.
Your agency’s reputation adds another layer. Respondents cited "negative public perception of law enforcement" and "speculation and the internet" as recruiting variables they can only partially control. No job posting fixes a perception problem, and no outreach campaign fully neutralizes it.
In other words, the supply problem is more complex than it first appears—and it's only half the equation. The other half is operational.
Candidate scarcity and process friction don't operate independently. Addressing one without the other limits your results. An agency that attracts more applicants but can't move them efficiently through the hiring process hasn't solved its problem. It's just added pressure to a system that was already leaking.
Workforce strain only makes this harder. It increases attrition, which adds more pressure to recruitment. The report reveals that 60% of agencies are already dealing with staffing shortages, 43% report early-career exits above 10%, and 41% of departing employees leave for another agency.
Preventing burnout in public safety is part of the retention equation, but it can't compensate for a hiring process that loses candidates before they even start. Your agency isn't just competing with the private sector. It's competing with the agency next door that hires faster.
The recruiting strategies agencies rely on most are reasonable, but insufficient. According to the trends report, the most used recruiting tactics are health and wellness benefits (29%), attending community events (28%), posting on more job boards (28%), and signing bonuses (23%). These are all attraction strategies. They can bring candidates to the door. But none of them improve the experience once candidates apply.
Most agencies struggle to convert quality candidates, and the data shows why. Hiring timelines are long, and the friction compounds at every stage. Background investigations alone can take months. Add medical exams, psychological evaluations, academy scheduling, and multi-level approvals, and timelines extend even further, especially in larger agencies with more stakeholders and approval layers.
Hiring speed ultimately comes down to efficient workflows, not technology alone. Agencies that complete background investigations in under 30 days are more likely to use hybrid processes than fully digital ones. They tend to be mid-sized—large enough to have dedicated resources, but without the bureaucratic layers that slow larger agencies down. Speed comes down to process, not infrastructure.
Reviewing and updating essential policies is part of the equation too. Some policies, like outdated tattoo rules or rigid residency requirements, may inadvertently disqualify good candidates.
As one survey respondent said, "Happy employees make better recruiting tools." Your current workforce is your strongest recruitment asset—as long as your hiring process doesn't churn the candidates they refer.
Background investigations are the most time-intensive step in public safety hiring, and the most likely to cost you a good candidate.
The data is clear. Background investigations take 30 to 90 days in 47% of agencies, and more than 90 days in 9%. Only 45% complete them in under 30 days. That’s notable, given that 61% of agencies already use hybrid paper-and-digital processes—meaning digitization alone isn't enough to eliminate the friction.
A candidate who applied to your agency and two others will most often accept whichever offer comes first. If your background investigation takes 60 days and a neighboring agency completes theirs in 25, you lose that candidate, regardless of your compensation, culture, or benefits package. In a competitive hiring market, speed is a differentiator. It's not always about who offers more. It's about who moves faster.
The good news is inefficient background investigations are a solvable problem. Most friction points come down to manual handoffs, scattered documentation, and limited visibility into where the process stalls. Here's what addressing them looks like:
Auditing your hiring process for bottlenecks and reducing the burden on administrators are two of the most impactful steps an agency can take. The right technology makes both easier.
Background investigation software like Vetted by PowerDMS is built around these friction points. Candidates complete personal history statements digitally. Investigators manage all documentation in one centralized platform. And the platform's AI-generated reference summaries help investigators review candidate references faster, while staying compliant.
Before your agency evaluates options, take a broader look at the importance of background investigation software in public safety hiring, and what responsible AI in public safety looks like in practice.
Most agencies optimize hiring for the top of the funnel, where candidates enter the pipeline. The data suggests the bottom—the candidate experience within your hiring process—deserves equal attention. Solving the hiring crisis means treating recruitment as an end-to-end system, from the first job posting to an officer's first day in the field.
Your agency can attract more candidates through bonuses, benefits, job boards, and community outreach. But if your hiring system can't convert those candidates efficiently, the investment in attraction is wasted. The National Policing Institute frames this as a holistic workforce challenge—one that requires agencies to think beyond sourcing and address the full pipeline.
Here’s what it looks like in practice:
PowerDMS by NEOGOV connects the tools that reduce inefficiency across the candidate pipeline and reduce the time between a candidate applying and an officer being field-ready.
The most successful public safety agencies optimize their hiring process. They invest in converting candidates, not just attracting them. Schedule a consultation to see how PowerDMS can help your agency do both.