Since their peak year of 2017, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s recruitment numbers have been decreasing, and it’s not just due to expected retirements.
Police have faced intense scrutiny amid the Black Lives Matter movement, following the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
It’s a worry for many, because police want to recruit people who are suited for the job.
Richard Meyers, lieutenant over backgrounds, recruiting, and polygraph for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and Sgt. Vince Booker from the office of the chief at the North Las Vegas Police Department, spoke with State of Nevada host Joe Schoenmann about their departments' efforts.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has about 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents in Clark County, but the goal is 2.0 by August 2023.
Meyers said while recruitments are down, it’s not just a local problem, but a nationwide issue. Police agencies around the country are paying much more –Seattle offers $20,000 more per year per officer, for example.
“For us to be competitive with that,” he said, “We’re going to have to increase our pay.”
A new recruit at LVMPD starts at $58,000, earning steady increases through field training, then again when they graduate to police officer. But he said they offer opportunities unlike other cities.
“If they start to get stagnant in an area, the carrot that we can dangle is the opportunity to move and try something else in the organization,” Meyers said. “So that they don't feel as though they’re marking time and that they're getting, for lack of better terms, complacent in one position in the organization.”
The academy starting in September has 80 recruits, he said.
Outside of Nevada, Las Vegas police recruited via a billboard campaign in five other major cities, but said social media is where they have the most success.
But since the killing of Floyd, police have faced tougher scrutiny and it’s had an effect on how many people want to become police officers (though recruitment numbers have been declining since 2017). Meyers said it was a learning experience for police departments.
With that, he said they focus on local community engagement, or as they call it, “humanizing the badge.”
Booker with the North Las Vegas Police Department said their goal is to grow with their city, which has had a population boom in recent years. He said the decline in recruitment is “natural attrition.”
He echoed Meyers about promoting the full package of becoming an officer in North Las Vegas, but added that the department offered work from home opportunities.
“In the pandemic, we obviously had to look at different service models, and particularly with our investigators in the detective bureau,” Booker said.
“We had the ability to allow our detectives to respond directly from home, to follow up on their investigations and to work their caseload. Obviously, our patrol officers, that model just doesn't necessarily fit with responding to crimes as they occur, and ensuring that we're responding in a timely manner. Some of our civilian personnel also had the ability to work from home. … And it worked.”
Along with expanding the department as a whole, Meyers said they’re working to diversify the police force.
In 2021, LVMPD was 56% white, 20.6% Hispanic, 9.8% Black or African American, 6.3% Asian, 5.3% two or more races, 6% Indigenous and 1.5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
About 33% of officers are female, compared to 14% in North Las Vegas.
“We have a recruiting subcommittee where we meet on, generally, a monthly basis with that subcommittee, and identify ways that we can recruit minorities into our community,” he said.
He noted an event this past Saturday with Nevada Partners where 70 applicants showed up to Lake Mead Boulevard and J Street.
Booker said in North Las Vegas, they’re focusing on community events: barbecues, Pride, Coffee With A Cop, Badges and Bows, as well as a recreational soccer league.
“We really look at really embedding our officers being a part of our community, humanizing the badge,” he said.
Richard Meyers, lieutenant, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department; Vince Booker, sergeant, office of the chief, North Las Vegas Police Department
