Recruiting for Tomorrow: 
Investing in Human Capital

Looking to the Future

The COPS Office symposium on "Recruiting for Tomorrow: Investing in Human Capital" took place on October 31 and November 1 at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The 165 participants included more than twenty chiefs/ sheriffs, officers and deputies of all ranks, civilians, state police, and POST/academy representatives from across the United States. Native American and Canadian law enforcement representatives were also among the attendees.

The purpose of the symposium was to share information and transfer knowledge about recruiting practices in a changing police culture, with an emphasis on preparing for the future. Three plenary sessions, described below, and six concurrent workshops covered various aspects and concerns.

Symposium agenda
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The plenary sessions:

• Cutting-Edge Recruitment and Selection: Current Perspectives and Future Challenges
• Bending Granite or Curving Wood: Changing Police Culture by Recruiting and Hiring for Service
• Recruiting for Tomorrow: Retaining for Today

The workshops:

1. Recruitment: Getting Who We Want and Need
2. Marketing: What's So Special About Your Agency?
3. Changing Times, Changing Faces
4. Selecting In, Screening Out
5. What the Community Can Do for You
6. The High Cost of Turnover