CBP's Strategies to Overcome the Law Enforcement Hiring Crisis

The U.S. is experiencing a crisis when it comes to hiring law enforcement officers. A survey by the Police Executive Research Forum found that from 2019 to 2022 officer resignations were up by 47% and retirement had increased by 16%. Compounding the departure of established officers, young people are more resistant to complete the months of training needed to become an officer.

These hiring challenges don’t just extend to local police forces, but federal agencies as well. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the number of border patrol agents was on a steady decline from 2020 to 2022 at a time when encounters at the border were skyrocketing.

“Getting into law enforcement can be difficult. Often, candidates must be willing to move to a new location,” said Jason Owens, Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Having the ability to protect U.S. Borders and keep Americans safe is critical to the mission of CBP, which is why the agency has faced their agent shortage head on and adapted their recruitment strategies to help find new talent.

During Homeland Security Week this past January, over 44% of attendees were from the federal government, meant of whom represented the CBP.  Pete Flores, Deputy Commissioner for the CBP, took the stage to discuss recruitment challenges, among other topics relevant to the CBP. During his session, Flores acknowledged that the CBP is facing a talent shortage.

“We’ve had to take a hard look at the application process and what we need from a recruitment standpoint,” said Flores. “And over the past year we’ve done a couple of things to help ourselves in terms of recruitment.”

One of the first things the CBP implemented was a customer experience survey administered to all applicants. The survey allowed the CBP to understand which parts of the application process were causing recruitment issues and helped the agency determine areas to improve efficiency in the process

With the swaths of data created by the survey, the CBP has shifted to a more enjoyable application experience that provides applicants with more transparency into how the process will unfold. On top of the survey, CBP has also made it a mission to ask for feedback from applicants at multiple points of the application process, meaning that applicants can give their thoughts in real time as opposed to waiting until the process is completed. 
 
Based on survey and feedback results, many of the changes CBP made to the application process center around making it more digitally accessible. Meaning that applicants can now opt for video interviews rather than in-person, and any required tests can be done from a home computer. 
 
According to Flores, results are already beginning to show with a 40% increase in applicants in 2023 compared to 2022. On top of gaining more applicants, CBP has seen other improvements to the hiring process such as a 16% increase in the entry to active-duty yield rate from 2022 to 2023. Additionally, the entire time-to-hire process sped up 26%, according to the CBP.

“Based on what we've done and what we've implemented so far, we've seen some improvements in our abilities to fill positions, specifically border agents,” said Flores.

Efforts to increase applicants are continuing for the CBP in 2024. This year CBP is enhancing recruitment efforts by offering increased incentives of up to $30,000 for newly appointed U.S. Border Patrol agent applicants starting duty on or after January 8th.

“To address ongoing recruiting challenges and remain competitive with other law enforcement organizations, CBP is now offering a $20,000 recruitment incentive for all newly appointed Border Patrol agents who successfully complete the academy and three years of service. Another $10,000 will be paid if the agent accepts a remote location,” said Assistant Commissioner Andrea Bright, CBP Human Resources Management.

For those interested in learning more about CBP recruitment efforts, as well as insights on the latest CBP initiatives and technologies, register for IDGA’s Border Security Summit today. This 2-day event will take place this September 24-25 in San Diego, California, and will feature speakers from the CBP as well as critical state and local authorities.