Motivations and likelihood of the public to consider a career in policing Open Access

Law enforcement agencies around the country are facing a recruitment crisis (PERF, 2019, 2023; Sun et al., 2022). For instance, a recent survey conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (2020) found that 78% of reporting police departments expressed difficulties in trying to hire qualified candidates. As a result, a confluence of potential sources of this issue have been put forward. Some contend that the increased number of job requirements asked of incoming recruits, combined with the bureaucratic organizational structure of departments, is not an attractive environment for today's workforce (PERF, 2019, 2023; Sun et al., 2022; Wilson, 2012; Wilson et al., 2010). Other recruitment-related challenges may be a result of how departments promote both themselves and the realities of service-oriented police work (Gibbs, 2019; McLean et al., 2023; Simpson, 2023), and fallout from numerous high-profile incidents of police use of force in recent years (Adams et al., 2023; McLean et al., 2023). Further, failing to change recruitment strategies may continue to keep certain segments of the population, such as women and racial/ethnic minorities, underrepresented within the policing ranks (Cambareri and Kuhns, 2018; Cordner and Cordner, 2011; Diaz and Nuño, 2021; Gibbs, 2019; Rief et al., 2024; Shjarback et al., 2017; Skaggs et al., 2024; Todak et al., 2018; White and Fradella, 2016) ^[1].

Suggestions on how to address recruitment struggles are also wide-ranging and include finding ways to overcome negative perceptions of police work and humanizing officers, emphasizing procedural justice, relaxing certain hiring standards, generating flexible scheduling, placing an increased focus on work-life balance and officer wellness, providing childcare, streamlining the recruitment process, and creating recruitment and retention programs that can be evaluated (Aiello, 2022; Arcuri, 2019; Hill et al., 2024, 2025; PERF, 2019, 2023; Sun et al., 2022; Wilson et al., 2023). Although improving staffing issues is paramount to the future of policing, additional research is needed on aspects of the profession that are appealing or unappealing to potential applicants and how these factors might vary based on key demographic characteristics. Existing scholarship on this topic has largely relied on the perspectives of academy cadets (see Gallardo et al., 2024; Raganella and White, 2004; Schuck, 2021; Wojslawowicz et al., 2023; Wojslawowicz et al., 2024) and college students (see Bottema and Telep, 2021; Diaz and Nuño, 2021; Gibbs et al., 2020; Hill et al., 2024, 2025; McLean et al., 2023; Morrow et al., 2021; Rossler et al., 2019), who are not fully reflective of the broader population that agencies hope to recruit from (PERF, 2019). In other words, rarely has research examined the attitudes of the general public towards working in policing (Aiello, 2022; Taniguchi et al., 2023).

Building upon this work, the current study uses data from a nationwide survey of more than 1,300 individuals to provide an exploratory inquiry into their interests in applying for a job in law enforcement. Through a series of descriptive and multivariate analyses, we aim to address two broad research questions. First, are there facets of working in policing that are attractive or unattractive to the general public? Second, what factors are associated with an increased likelihood of the public considering a career in policing? After an in-depth review of the key findings, we offer several policy recommendations to help address the recruitment crisis.

Research on motivations to join policing has commonly found that an internal drive to help their community, job security, and benefits are major influences associated with increased likelihood to seek out a career in law enforcement (Raganella and White, 2004; Schuck, 2021; Todak et al., 2018). However, some have posited that policing today is simply not as attractive as it once was, particularly for college-educated individuals (Hur, 2018; Morrow et al., 2019; PERF, 2019, 2023; Rhodes and Tyler, 2021; Todak, 2017). With the growth of jobs in the American economy that have flexible hours or allow employees to work from home, it could also be that competitive candidates prefer this style of work environment over the bureaucratic and quasi-military structure of many modern agencies (PERF, 2019; Wilson, 2012; Wilson et al., 2010). Additionally, some believe that the ever-growing list of duties that officers are asked to complete, especially those with technology and skill requirements, constricts the pool of qualified candidates (PERF, 2019; Wilson et al., 2010).

Despite nationwide pushes to increase the diversity of law enforcement agencies throughout the country (e.g. 30 x 30 Initiative; President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015), several gender and racial barriers may also be contributing to decreased interest in the profession (Cordner and Cordner, 2011; Donohue, 2021; Sun et al., 2022). In a survey of nearly 400 undergraduate students, Cambareri and Kuhns (2018) found that women respondents perceived less fulfillment and success, less respect from the community and fellow officers, and fewer opportunities to advance in a department if they were to pursue a career in law enforcement when compared to men. Several other recent studies have also noted issues related to differential treatment and a lack of mentorship and familial resources that could be keeping women from applying (Rief et al., 2024; Skaggs et al., 2024). In terms of racial/ethnic diversity amongst recruits, factors such as low trust between racial/ethnic minority communities and the police, a lack of social support, discriminatory recruitment practices, and problematic police culture have all been cited as potential barriers to employment (Hesketh and Stubbs, 2025; Shjarback et al., 2017; Todak et al., 2018; White and Fradella, 2016; Wilson and Wilson, 2014; Wilson et al., 2016).

For instance, Rossler et al. (2019) found that African American college students perceived greater disapproval from their family and significant others regarding joining the police, held lower levels of respect for the police, and were more likely to believe that officers racially profile people. Alternatively, Aiello (2022) found that the incorporation of procedural justice theory related content into recruitment material, which emphasized the importance of fair and respectful treatment of individuals, was associated with increased interest in police work, and the results were similar across gender and racial/ethnic groups. Further, recent research drawing on theories related to intergroup communication has shown that deliberate attempts to humanize officers in a way that non-traditional policing audiences can connect with may expand their applicant pool (Hill et al., 2024, 2025).

Others note that perceptions of personal barriers concerning rigid hiring standards, particularly for minor drug use, keep otherwise qualified candidates from applying or being selected (IACP, 2020; PERF, 2019; Sun et al., 2022) ^[2]. In a survey of college undergraduates, Bottema and Telep (2021) found that students believed departments should be more lenient regarding some contextual factors related to marijuana usage. Specifically, students felt department hiring standards should be flexible in states where medicinal marijuana has been legalized. Recent surveys of police departments have also found that an increasing number of agencies are beginning to relax their drug use disqualifiers due to workforce shortages (IACP, 2020; PERF, 2019).

Finally, a host of high-profile lethal use of force incidents in recent years could also be turning potential recruits away from the profession (Adams et al., 2023; Sun et al., 2022). The shooting death of Michael Brown in 2014 and the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 resulted in mass protests in cities across the United States (Reny and Newman, 2021). For a profession that was already facing distrust and cynicism from the public they serve, these events may have served as a tipping point in terms of recruitment (McLean et al., 2023). To illustrate, Diaz and Nuño (2021) found that among women college students, negative media portrayals of the police reduced the odds of them considering law enforcement as a profession.

Collectively, the body of prior research as well as media and political speculation has identified a number of potential causes of the recruitment crisis in policing. Further, several studies have also served a crucial role in unpacking various motivational factors and perceived barriers to joining law enforcement (Cambareri and Kuhns, 2018; Diaz and Nuño, 2021; Gibbs, 2019; McLean et al., 2023; Morrow et al., 2021; Raganella and White, 2004; Rief et al., 2024; Rossler et al., 2019; Schuck, 2021; Skaggs et al., 2024; Todak et al., 2018; White et al., 2010; Wojslawowicz et al., 2023). However, a commonly cited limitation within this work is the reliance on convenience samples of undergraduate students and academy recruits. While informative, these samples are not fully representative of the broader population or the potential applicant pool agencies are interested in recruiting from. For example, most agencies in the U.S. only require a high school diploma to be eligible for employment (Walker and Katz, 2018). Therefore, relying on perspectives towards recruitment from college-educated individuals is only a fraction of qualified citizens. Further, studies using samples of cadets or active law enforcement officers require them to think retrospectively about factors that influenced their decision to apply, which is a task that may introduce hindsight bias (Guilbault et al., 2004), reflecting an “appropriate” motive for pursuing the career divorced from their own beliefs (Wozniak et al., 2023). This presents a need for an empirical assessment of general citizens' views toward attractive and unattractive elements of policing, and factors associated with their likelihood to consider a career in law enforcement. Through a series of descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses, the current exploratory study aims to address these gaps in knowledge to provide policy recommendations and identify areas for future research to expand on this issue.

Data used in this study come from a national-level opt-in survey of U.S. adults (age 18+) fielded between December 8 and 22, 2023, via Qualtrics to participants in their online research panel (N = 1,536). This national-level quota panel provides us with a sample quality that is superior to other online opt-in convenience panels (Douglas et al., 2023), such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), in part, because of its quota sampling as well as pre-screening of participants to ensure quality respondents. It also uses several checks to enhance data quality, such as ensuring respondents do not complete the survey multiple times, do not speed (i.e. total duration >250 s), and are not “bots” (i.e. Recaptcha score <0.5, fraud score <30)^[3]. For our sample, respondents were gathered using the following quotas of U.S. adults (18+), focusing on gender (48% male, 52% female), age (30% 18–34, 32% 35–54, 38% 55+), race (75% White, 13% Black/African American, 6% Asian or Pacific Islander, 6% American Indian/Alaskan Native or Other), and ethnicity (18% Hispanic, 82% non-Hispanic).

Given that this study focused on potential recruits, all self-identified officers, past and present, were removed from this sample prior to analyses (n = 138), as were those who provided no response to this question (n = 12), leaving 1,386 respondents. Following listwise deletion for missing values on remaining variables of interest in this study (3.68%; n = 51)^[4], the final analytic sample size was 1,335. Compared to the aforementioned quota and other sociodemographic characteristics (based on the 2022 American Community Survey, aged 18+, in parentheses), this sample was 64.9% White (63.1%), 45.6% male (49.1%), 38.1% married (47.1%), and 27.3% Republican (27.2%; PEW Research Center, 2024), with an average age of 47.40 years old (SD = 18.72) ^[5].

To measure interest in becoming a police officer, we asked respondents to report the likelihood that they “would EVER consider a career in policing/law enforcement,” with response options ranging from “Extremely likely” to “Extremely unlikely” on a five-point Likert-type scale. Responses to this question were coded so that higher values indicate a greater likelihood of considering policing as a career.

To measure the factors that might influence the decision to attempt to become a police officer, respondents were asked “What facets of a career in policing/law enforcement interest you,” requesting them to check all options that apply to them from a list of 19 statements (e.g. “Excitement of police work,” “Opportunity to help members of the community,” “pay/salary”), which were similar to those used in prior literature (e.g. Raganella and White, 2004; Schuck, 2021; White et al., 2010). On the flip side, we go beyond prior research by also asking respondents to identify “some of the reasons you would NOT want to work in policing/law enforcement,” again asking them to check all statements that applied to them from a list of 17 items (e.g. “pay/salary,” “increased media attention,” “physical requirements of the job”). Some of these items reflect the inverse of the attractor statements, while others were generated based on recent research that has identified potential factors contributing to current recruitment challenges (IACP, 2020; McLean et al., 2023; PERF, 2019, 2023; Simpson, 2023) ^[6]. Responses to both questions were coded so that one indicated a respondent's selection and zero indicated the statement was not selected. See Supplemental Tables 1 and 2 for the full list of items and loadings.

Two exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were conducted on these items using polychoric correlation matrices with oblimin rotation due to their dichotomous nature. The EFAs were examined to determine if any sets of responses provided an underlying construct for attractive and unattractive aspects of entering policing, respectively. Items with low factor loadings (<0.400) were dropped from subsequent analyses. For the items of “attraction,” four factors (eigenvalues >1) were identified: (1) job security, benefits (medical/pension), pay/salary, early retirement (20–25 years), (2) the ability to work overtime, opportunities for career advancement, and to use the job as a stepping stone to another career, (3) the excitement of police work, a desire to enforce the laws of society, a desire to combat crime, the prestige of the job, it is a longstanding dream of yours, and the military-like structure of departments, and (4) opportunity to help members of the community. Items within each multi-item factor were averaged to produce three constructs—Good material benefits (KR-20 = 0.553, Factor loadings between 0.467 and 0.855), Nature of the Job–Aspirational (KR-20 = 0.428, Factor loadings between 0.500 and 0.672), and Nature of the Job–Romanticized (KR-20 = 0.558, Factor loadings between 0.414 and 0.614), respectively, with the opportunity to help members of the community treated as its own independent variable ^[7].

For items relating unattractive aspects, analyses identified five factors (eigenvalues >1)—(1) having to carry a firearm, having to use physical force, physical requirements of the job, and military-like structure of departments (2) personal illegal drug use history, personal criminal history, personal mental health history, personal credit history, and education standards (minimum high school diploma or GED), (3) the majority of police officers are men, the majority of police officers are white, (4) increased media attention, public scrutiny, and (5) pay/salary, benefits (medical/pension). Items within each factor were averaged to produce five constructs—Force (KR-20 = 0.521, Factor loadings between 0.453 and 0.727), Personal history (KR-20 = 0.454, Factor loadings between 0.405 and 0.781), Modal officer (KR-20 = 0.507, Factor loadings between 0.589 and 0.905)^[8], Attention (KR-20 = 0.468, Factor loadings between 0.607 and 0.781)^[9], and Poor material benefits (KR-20 = 0.238, Factor loadings between 0.452 and 0.545)^[10], respectively ^[11].

To account for reasons that might influence responses to our key variables of interest, several presumedly related variables were measured. Policing TV exposure was measured through the reported frequency of watching such programming, using a four-point scale from “never” to “5+ times per week.” Respondents also reported whether or not they had been stopped by police/law enforcement in the last 12 months. Relatedly, respondents reported their average experiences with police as 1 = negative, 2 = neutral, or 3 = positive. Likewise, in order to capture global attitudes about police procedural justice, a known robust correlate in policing, respondents reported their level of agreement with four items about the police in the respondent's community (e.g. “treat people fairly”), with a five-point Likert scale (“disagree strongly” to “agree strongly”). Similar items have also been used in prior literature (Nix et al., 2015; Pickett et al., 2018). Higher values on this scale indicate greater perceived procedural justice (α = 0.926, Factor loadings between 0.791 and 0.918). We also sought to account for whether respondents had taken a high school or college course on the criminal justice system. Likewise, respondents were asked whether they had family members or close friends who were police officers. To control for those who would potentially be disqualified due to their criminal past, respondents were also asked to report whether they had ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony offense.

To account for possible social pressures related to becoming a police officer (see Rossler et al., 2019), we asked respondents to report on a five-point Likert scale (“disagree strongly” to “agree strongly”) whether becoming a police/law enforcement officer would be viewed with disapproval from (1) family, (2) friends, (3) spouse or significant other, with higher values indicating greater support for becoming a police/law enforcement officer. To account for other perceived barriers to becoming an officer, respondents reported their level of agreement on a five-point Likert scale (“disagree strongly” to “agree strongly”) to five items, reflecting perceived barriers to employment (I would be worried to take a polygraph examination; I have tattoos or piercings that would hurt my chances of being a police officer; What I have said on social media in the past would hurt my chances of ever being a police officer; My past drug use would hurt my chances at being a police officer; I am afraid of what my references will say about me during my background investigation). Responses to these items were averaged to produce a scale in which higher values indicate greater perceived barriers to employment by the respondent (α = 0.873, Factor loadings between 0.720 and 0.790).

We also controlled for respondent sociodemographic characteristics, which are commonplace in survey-based research, including age (in years), sex (1 = male, 0 = female), race (1 = White, 0 = non-White), marital status (1 = married, 0 = other), education (1 = “less than high school” to 8 = “graduate degree”), income (1 = “0 to $9,999” to 7 = “$100,000+“), political party affiliation (1 = Republican, 0 = others), conservatism (1 = “conservative”, 0 = “others”), geographic residence (1 = South, 0 = others), children (1 = yes, 0 = no), active military status (1 = yes, 0 = no), and military veteran (1 = yes, 0 = no). The coding scheme and descriptive statistics for all included variables can be seen in Table 1.

Our analyses in this study unfold in three phases, aligning with our research questions. First, we focus descriptively on exploring the factors that might be attractive or unattractive to someone's interest in policing as a career. Second, we use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to understand factors that may be associated with an increase or decrease in the likelihood of ever considering law enforcement as a career ^[12]. Third, we present separate findings with the sample confined to those aged 18 to 35 (n = 413) to examine those most likely to be recruited for policing positions. In all multivariate analyses, the variance inflation factors remained below 4.0, indicating no concern for multicollinearity. Power analyses determined all models were sufficiently powered (β = 0.80) to detect small-sized predictor effects (f² = 0.02) at an α < 0.05 level.

Starting descriptively, respondents were asked to report whether 19 different facets of policing drew their interest in the career. The top five most frequently endorsed items and the bottom five least frequently endorsed items are presented in Table 2. More than four in ten respondents (44.6%) reported being drawn to the career because of the opportunity to help members of the community. Another three in ten (32.7%) endorsed the benefits of the job, with more than one-fourth selecting job security (27.4%) and pay/salary (26.1%). Conversely, fewer than one in ten respondents were drawn to policing in order to move to another career (9.2%), because of the military-like structure (8.3%), or having power and authority (8.3%).

Likewise, respondents reported on whether 17 unique elements of policing did not lead to their interest in the career. Just shy of four in ten respondents (39.5%) reported that having to use physical force would deter them from working in law enforcement. Additionally, more than one-third of respondents reported that the difficult work-life balance (38.1%) and physical requirements of the job (35.3%) would lead them not to be interested in the career. In contrast, the least frequently endorsed items that were viewed as unattractive aspects of policing by respondents were their personal criminal history (9.0%), educational standards (7.8%), credit history (7.9%), and drug history (7.7%).

We next sought to understand if these attractive or unattractive characteristics would independently influence the likelihood of ever considering this career. As seen in Table 3 in the full sample, the nature of the job as both aspirational and romanticized, as well as wanting to help members of their community, each increases this likelihood. However, the need to use force/physical nature of the job significantly reduced respondents' likelihood to ever consider policing. Still, these un/attractive characteristics were not the only factors driving the likelihood to ever consider police work. The most impactful variables in this model were age and perceived personal barriers, with older individuals less likely to ever consider this career and those with greater perceived personal barriers more likely to ever consider it. Nonetheless, the role of criminal justice coursework, frequency of watching law enforcement-related television shows, having friends supportive of this career choice, having a positive prior experience with police, and holding greater feelings of procedural justice each significantly played sizable roles in increased likelihood to consider a policing career. Finally, conservative respondents were significantly less inclined to ever consider a career in law enforcement.

To check the sensitivity of these effects, the analyses were also examined using a subsample of those aged 18 to 35 (N = 413), which reflects the key age profile of those often recruited by agencies. Of the attractive elements of the job, seen in Table 2, those aged 18 to 35 were no different from the broader sample in endorsing the opportunity to help the community, benefits, job security, and pay as attractive. However, a smaller proportion of 18 to 35-year-olds endorsed early retirement as an attractive element of law enforcement. As for the bottom five attractive facets, compared to the full sample, a larger proportion of this subsample endorsed using this career as a stepping stone to future employment, and policing being a longstanding dream of theirs.

In contrast, 18 to 35-year-olds were similar to the broader sample in most of the top five unattractive facets of the job, such as having to use physical force, difficult work-life balance, public scrutiny, and having to carry a firearm. However, a smaller proportion of the subsample endorsed the physical requirements of the job as an unattractive facet of policing. As for the bottom five unattractive elements of the career, 18 to 35-year-olds were no different from the broader sample, with the exception of educational standards, in which a larger share of 18 to 35-year-olds endorsed this element compared to the full sample.

When looking at this subsample in Table 3, the likelihood to ever consider the career for those aged 18 to 35 was associated most strongly with the nature of the job as aspirational; however, unlike the broader sample, this demographic's likelihood was not associated with the romanticized nature of the job. As with the broader sample, the ability to help their community was also associated with increased likelihood, and force/the physical nature of the job was the strongest detractor in the likelihood of considering policing. Additionally, conservative respondents were less likely to consider policing as a career, whereas Republican respondents were significantly more likely. Notably, more education and being a military veteran among 18 to 35-year-olds were associated with significant increases in the likelihood of considering law enforcement. Further, as in the broader sample, procedural justice, taking a criminal justice course, and having more perceived personal barriers played sizeable roles in increased likelihoods of ever considering policing. In contrast to the broader sample, subsample respondents' likelihood was not associated with the frequency of watching criminal justice-related television shows, nor were prior positive police experiences.

Despite preliminary evidence that police recruitment improved during 2024 compared to the previous four years (PERF, 2024), the workforce shortage in policing remains a major concern for law enforcement agencies nationwide. Numerous studies over the past two decades have drawn on samples of academy cadets and undergraduate students to tap into their views and motivations for working in law enforcement, but rarely have studies assessed the general public's perceptions towards attractive and unattractive aspects of a career in police work, as well as factors that may be associated with their likelihood to apply for a position in law enforcement. The current study sought to address this gap in the literature with a nationwide survey of more than 1,300 individuals. A review of the findings, relevant policy implications, limitations, and areas for future research to expand are all covered in the discussion that follows.

Beginning with the key findings, the opportunity to help members of the community and various job-related incentives (i.e. medical benefits, pension, job security, pay/salary, and early retirement) represented the top facets of police work that interested our sample. The aspects of policing that were least frequently endorsed as attractive qualities revolved around the quasi-military structure of agencies, having power and authority, using the job as a stepping stone to another, and a lack of career alternatives. This echoes results found in police cadet and officer samples (Raganella and White, 2004; White et al., 2010).

Further, we also asked participants to identify reasons why they would not want to work in policing, with the most commonly chosen factors including some of the hands-on aspects of the job (i.e. having to use force, carry a weapon, other physical requirements), as well as work-life balance and public scrutiny issues. These findings match some of the positing found in existing literature. For instance, PERF (2019) highlighted the changes that have occurred in the broader job market today, where competitive applicants are seeking careers that place a greater emphasis on work-life balance. Concerning public scrutiny, they also noted that “Negative news stories about police use of force and other issues may have turned some young people away from any consideration of working in policing” (PERF, 2019, p. 22). To our knowledge, these results are the first to provide systematic quantitative evidence to support this conjecture. In light of the results, we support the calls of others (see Gibbs, 2019; McLean et al., 2023; Simpson, 2023; Taniguchi et al., 2023) that suggest agencies should seek to recruit applicants by promoting the service-oriented or guardian-like nature of their role along with the material benefits that come with a career in policing. Along those lines, agencies may also wish to produce recruitment material that humanizes their officers in a manner that members of the public can identify with (Hill et al., 2024, 2025), and further demonstrate their commitment to potential employees by emphasizing factors such as work-life balance, flexible scheduling, wellness programs, and childcare assistance (PERF, 2019, 2023; Rief et al., 2024).

Next, the results of the multivariate analysis revealed several variables that were associated with the public's likelihood to ever consider a career in policing. To start, the nature of police work as aspirational and romanticized, as well as the ability to help community members, were among the attractive factors associated with an increase in likelihood, while having to use force/the physical nature of the job (an unattractive factor) had a negative impact. That is, respondents were more likely to consider law enforcement because of the ability to help people, work overtime, join special units, pursue longstanding dreams, have an exciting job, enforce laws, and address crime, but were roughly equally deterred due to having to carry a firearm, use force, and the physical nature of the job. Given the rarity of instances in which an officer must use force (Adams, 1999; Pate and Fridell, 1993), let alone lethal force (see Garner et al., 2002; Garner et al., 2018), it may prove useful for agencies to provide transparency around the realities of policing and the use of coercion during the recruitment process.

Among the full sample, age was the only demographic characteristic with a significant relationship in terms of likelihood. This is not overly surprising given that individuals in older demographics likely already have a career in another field, or they are past the maximum age limit agencies will allow for an applicant. We observe this phenomenon when examining respondents in the 18-to-35-year range, as age is no longer significant. Rather, education and identifying with the Republican party were associated with an increased likelihood of considering law enforcement as a career. Additionally, individuals more closely aligned with conservative ideals were less willing to work in policing. While somewhat surprising given the conservative nature of law enforcement (Reny et al., 2025), perceptions of the “war on police” are more pervasive amongst conservative individuals (see Moule, 2020) and could discourage some members of the public from entertaining the prospect of being a police officer. Alternatively, this may reflect emphases on caring for others and fairness reflected by ideologically liberal individuals, which happens to align with the role of law enforcement (Haidt, 2012). Future research should examine these possibilities.

Noticeably absent from significant associations within our multivariate analyses were the variables of sex and race, especially given that prior research has identified potential barriers limiting interest in policing from underrepresented groups. Additional analyses (see online supplement) showed that at the bivariate level, men were significantly more likely to consider the career than others (x̄_men = 2.26; x̄_others = 1.95, p < 0.001), and non-White candidates were significantly more likely to consider the career than White respondents (x̄_non-white = 2.48; x̄_White = 1.88, p < 0.001). However, after accounting for a host of covariates, our findings support those of past research in that the motivations for seeking employment as a law enforcement officer appear to be more universal across gender and race (Raganella and White, 2004; Wozniak et al., 2023). Likewise, military service presented yet another mostly non-significant finding. Despite historically making up a sizeable portion of the policing workforce, active-duty military and veterans were no more likely than non-military members to consider policing as a career in the full sample. In fact, only veterans aged 18 to 35 had an increased likelihood. From a policy standpoint, this suggests the use of tailored messaging or recruitment materials to certain groups (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, military members) may be unnecessary. Rather, promoting the role's service-oriented nature, benefits, and security may aid in the recruitment of individuals from all backgrounds.

Additionally, the most influential set of variables within the full-sample multivariate model was individuals' knowledge and prior experience with the police. More specifically, watching police-related television shows, taking a criminal justice course, having had a positive experience in prior interactions with officers, and having higher views of procedural justice were all significantly linked with an increased likelihood of considering policing as a career. Among those in the 18-to-35-year range, only taking a criminal justice course and greater perceptions of procedural justice are associated with an increased likelihood of considering policing. This raises several potential policy implications. The results of the current study, along with those of prior research (see Aiello, 2022), suggest that having positive interactions with the public and treating them in a procedurally just manner may also increase the willingness of the public to consider pursuing police work as a profession. Although this relationship would benefit from further empirical testing, disseminating this downstream effect to upper-level management, recruiters, and patrol officers may further hit home the necessity and potential benefits of utilizing these principles.

Finally, concerns about hiring standards or barriers to employment (e.g. tattoos/piercings; social media use; drug use) were associated with greater inclinations to consider applying for a career in policing. We offer a few potential reasons for this finding. First, because we did not ask respondents about the content of their unease (e.g. racially biased tattoo), we cannot discern the gravity of these concerns towards their potential recruitment. However, those viewing these barriers with more apprehension may be unaware of local agency hiring standards, leaving them overly concerned but still interested in the career. In multivariate analyses (see online supplement), familiarity with local agency hiring standards was significantly associated with increased concerns about barriers, but it did not mitigate the impact of barriers on the likelihood of considering the career.

A second explanation is that concerns about barriers may make one feel that their past would limit their hiring potential, despite wanting to work in policing. In the online supplement, we examined this possibility, controlling for the belief that consumption of drugs and convictions of a misdemeanor or felony offense should be automatically disqualifying for potential recruits. However, those with perceived barriers were still significantly more inclined to consider a career in law enforcement, even after controlling for attitudes about automatically disqualifying conduct.

This leaves a third possibility where those with self-perceived barriers want to consider a career in law enforcement, but self-select out for some other reason. They may lack the social support (e.g. family, friends, spouse/partner) to overcome perceived barriers and apply for a position (see online supplement). Or, those with fewer concerns about barriers to entering law enforcement may never have entertained applying to become a law enforcement officer due to other career opportunities, aspirations, or decisions. Nonetheless, future research is needed to explore this application-barrier relationship.

The current study is not without limitations. Although our sample is more reflective of the general public than much of the prior research in the area of police recruitment, it is not wholly representative. National probability samples are needed to assess the strength of the relationships found here, though we are confident that similar findings will emerge (Thompson and Pickett, 2020). Further, it is unclear whether these findings are demonstrative of a broader societal change in perceptions of the role of the police or reflective of more temporary attitudes following publicized police use of force cases. Replication is needed at another time point, particularly for our newly developed unattractive elements. Still, our results are consistent with findings dating back to the 1970s, suggesting continuity rather than change regarding attractive elements of the public's desire to become law enforcement officers.

There are numerous other areas where future research can continue to expand. Given the exploratory nature of this study, we did not explicitly attempt to develop or test underlying theories that might explain current recruitment struggles. However, our findings and those from prior research suggest that both procedural justice and theories related to intergroup communication could hold some promise (Aiello, 2022; Hill et al., 2024, 2025). Improvement in measures used in the current study, particularly with (un)attractive items and likelihood to consider a policing career, would also help to understand these phenomena better. For instance, our measures were not wholly comprehensive, and future respondents may identify other features of a career in law enforcement that are attractive or unattractive than those listed within our study. Similarly, in-depth interviewing and focus groups with the general public may be beneficial in fleshing out the public's experience with officers and their views on police recruitment.

Taken together, the recruitment crisis in law enforcement necessitates that agencies adapt their hiring practices in a manner that will attract competitive applicants who can fill the difficult role of a 21st-century police officer. Scholars must also follow suit and continue to expand on research related to this important topic.

The supplementary material for this article can be found online.