Generation Z Recruiting for Public Safety

We dig into why agencies aren’t facing a talent shortage so much as a process-and-culture problem, and how mobile-first recruiting, fast communication, and real schedule flexibility win over today’s candidates. Tom Draper shares ground-level insights from students choosing law enforcement and what actually keeps them from jumping ship.

• shifting from perceived shortage to process friction
• why mobile-first applications and instant comms matter
• speeding timelines from interest to interview
• bonuses versus culture, training, and support
• Minnesota’s licensing path and its lessons
• schedules, rotations, and real flexibility as magnets
• replacing glossy videos with clear, concrete info
• mission, mentorship, and integrity as retention drivers

Safeguard Recruiting is owned and operated by first responders, and it is a public safety recruiting firm with a proven recruiting system that staffs agencies across the country. 

Reach out today for a free consultation and learn about our guarantee that will increase the number of candidates for your agency. 

Transcript

Setting The Stage On Recruiting

Travis Yates 0:00

Welcome back to the show. I'm so excited. You decided to spend a few minutes with us here today. Once again, I have Doug Larson, the COO of Safeguard Recruiting. He's back. He's busier than ever. Doug, how are you doing? Doing excellent. Well, you know, Doug, we always get asked about Generation X or Y or whatever the name of these kids are, right? And how they respond and how they act. And are they interested in law enforcement? And I think we've already sort of put to bed the rest that there's this recruiting crisis. There's no shortage of young men and women that want to do the job. We see that with all of our clients all over the country. There's a ton of them. But I think it's important to know how to reach them, right? Because it's certainly different than when you and I went to law enforcement, where you know I took a test and waited about a mailbox six months, and they didn't really have to really respond or nurture me or anything. You have to attract these young kids in a different fashion. And we've been saying, I think, the correct things because our clients have been really churning out the recruits. But we're fortunate today to have Tom Draper on the show. He's a uh professor, college of educator at Hennepin College in Minnesota. And he speaks to young kids all the time that are in the criminal justice program. And he really gave us some insights, did he not about what these kids are looking for?

Doug Larsen 1:18

Yeah, valuable information from Tom. And he he's right there on the front line talking to people every day and knows what kind of communication resonates with them and what sticks with them and and and what they want to hear. So this is a good webinar for people to listen to.

Travis Yates 1:34

Tune in, Tom Draper. You're not going to be disappointed. Without further ado, let's bring Tom on. Well, it's an honor to welcome Tom Draper on the show

Introducing Tom Draper

Travis Yates 1:44

today. He's the Associate Dean of Peace Officer Programs at Hennepin Technical College in Minnesota. He's a former law enforcement officer. He's over 25 years of experience. As he said, he fell retirement like the rest of us. But Tom, man, it's so great to have you today. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you for having me, Travis. So, how long I have to imagine when you hear this recruiting crisis thrown out and you sort of see the state of law

Is There A Recruiting Crisis

Travis Yates 2:10

enforcement. I just want to get your initial thoughts on it because you're sort of at the ground level, Tom. You're talking to kids or adults that want to go into law enforcement each and every day. Uh, kind of what are you seeing?

Tom Draper 2:21

Well, since 2000, things have are, or 2020, I should say, things have uh declined quite a bit as far as people wanting to get into law enforcement. Uh, pendulum has started to swing backward or back now, where more people are interested in it and are starting to enrollment-wise, are starting to take it back into the career. Now, I hate to date myself, but the generation kind of likes to jump around a lot. Um, so agencies are having a hard that there's no when I ended my career, there was a lot of people five years, then they jumped to another agency because they thought things were better. Um, they find out that things are the same thing agency to agency, you have different

Retention, Jumping, And Culture

Tom Draper 3:15

people running the agency. Um, maybe there's different opportunities, but overall it's the same thing. But the generation has no problem moving around a lot, and I'm seeing that. Now, more students are, as I said, are and Minnesota's a little different than the rest of the country. Um, so in Minnesota, you have to have a two or four-year degree in law enforcement, and then you attend what we call a skills school. It's very our training, it's very similar to academies in other states. Um or they can have a two or a four-year degree in anything, but then there's some special uh extra classes that they have to take. Then they can take the post exam, then they can be licensed or hired and then licensed. So where other states they'll hire people on, they'll send them through academies and then they go to their agencies that hired them. But we are seeing a steady increase in those that want to get back into law enforcement.

Travis Yates 4:20

Yeah, and I think the one thing you talk about is absolutely true. I I think we are seeing uh the generation today not willing to just stick around for 20 or 30 years in an organization that they're not particularly fond of. In fact, the latest data that we have is about 62% of every cop today that uh is recently hired uh will be gone in six years. Uh and maybe they're gone to another department, but they're not staying at that department. And of course, that's culture, right? It's organization. People want to work in good culture, good organization. It doesn't seem like that the so-called benefits we used to pitch, right? And pensions seem to matter much to this generation. What are your thoughts on that?

Tom Draper 4:57

No, that is very true. That uh it is the jump. Uh I I used to call them the jumpers because they would go from agency to agency. They want to just I mean, I hate to put it this way, but the shiny new penny. Um, but yeah, the retirement that you and I thought of um was our focus. It is no longer that focus, it's what's good for me right now, is what I'm seeing. But hopefully that shift starts to move back because it is tough for these agencies to retain people where then now they're trying to make up different packages to keep them there.

Travis Yates 5:40

Well, we can look at it one of two ways, right? I actually see it as an opportunity for agencies, uh, an opportunity for agencies to be better, an opportunity to be an agency to be better than the agency down the road, an opportunity for agencies to build culture, to add training, to give actually this generation what they actually want. And my fear is, Tom, is what you just said. Oh, we're just throwing hiring bonuses and we're throwing this, we're throwing that. We already established that the benefits aren't the ones that are attracting them and keeping them. So is that short-term thinking, or or is or do you think that actually is going to work? Because obviously it's been going on for a while and it's not working in a lot of agencies.

Tom Draper 6:15

I

Minnesota’s Path To Licensure

Tom Draper 6:16

think it's short-term thinking. And uh I'll mention one thing. We have a career fair here, and two years ago, the career fair really wasn't about trying to recruit the students, it was agencies going to other agencies' table and trying to, as we say, poach their current officers or lure them over so they fill their spots or vacancies at their departments. So I that's not happening so much anymore, uh, which is a good thing because it doesn't help any of the agencies when they just sit and do that.

Travis Yates 6:54

Well, we see and what we keep talking to our clients about is there's no shortage of people that want to do the job, but you have to reach them differently. Kids today are not going to wait around like you and I waited, hoping for someone to call us or nobody calls us for six months. I mean, you've got to be in constant communication, you've got to have a process that's quick, that they understand, that their questions are answered. I mean, you deal with these kids every day, Tom. I mean, what's your thoughts on that?

Tom Draper 7:17

That is very true. They have to, I mean, social media is huge. Um, agencies need to jump on that. And because, I mean, I'll be honest, the cell phone, the iPad, whatever they're on, that's their mode of communication now. And agencies need to be creative that way to reach out to them, to put those messages out. It's

Short-Term Incentives Versus Strategy

Tom Draper 7:42

no longer, oh, I look it up in the newspaper, or I'll look it up someplace and uh you know, see if there's an opening. Uh they it should be at their fingertips, and that what that's what this generation is is looking at. And you know, when you talked about the agencies, I think you're so right there because sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. Change is good, change is why are you making all this change? Change is bad. That's terrible. Well, again, technology, you got it, you need to use it because that's what this generation is is about, I'll be honest, is technology.

Travis Yates 8:20

Yeah, and if I was to give you this data, which is which is straight from the industry, is is that across all industries in America, 85% of all job applications come from people's phones. I don't think that's going to surprise you based on what you just said, but if we were to say that to a department, the department should probably think about putting their application in a mobile environment. In fact, we can tell you, Tom, and I'll just piggyback on what you just said, is departments that use this sort of archaic human resource, go to your desktop, register for an account. I'm telling you, this shocks people when we tell them this, they're losing 90% of the people that express interest in the department. Now, as a department, you could take that one or two ways. You could say, well, they're not worthy of being here because if they weren't willing to jump through the obstacles that I've created through this old archaic system, then they can go somewhere else. Or you can look at it this way: you better conform

Meet Candidates Where They Are

Travis Yates 9:17

to what the job seeker wants, or they'll just find a job that does.

Tom Draper 9:21

Yes, you are so true. Very, very true about all of that. And the whole idea of like you had mentioned it just earlier, too, about the testing. You can no longer do the okay, we'll take the written, we'll look at the applications, we'll take a written test, and then in three or four weeks we'll get a hold of you for interviews, and those will stretch out another couple weeks. Things have to happen at a much quicker rate. I think a lot of agencies are starting to move that way. But it is the ones that are still stuck in that way of one, like you said, they don't put it in a platform that this generation can use or find frustrating.

Travis Yates 10:02

I mean, yeah, we we've we've sort of uh had our success across the country, Tom, because we source candidates for agencies, and we work with individual agencies, so we're not sourcing a pool, but we source candidates for agencies on their mobile device and we find them on the mobile device and we keep them on the mobile device. But I'm always finding it surprising when agencies sort of fight against that. I'm like, you know, and I'm like, hey, if you want to go to the career fair or you want to do your own thing, go ahead. But you know, I we've had we've had a difficult time wrapping our head around the fact that this recruiting issue, because we want to blame 2020 and we want to blame the new generation. You can keep blaming that and the problem doesn't get fixed, or you can get solutions to sort of circumvent that problem. It's not it's not unique to law enforcement. Every industry's had to adapt to this. But as you said, the tradition of law enforcement sort of is a slow row. So I'm interested in the college because I bet the college has adapted. For instance, you know, when my sons applied for college, they immediately got text messages, they immediately

Speed Matters In Hiring

Travis Yates 11:00

got emails, they immediately had someone call them. I have to assume your college has done the same thing.

Tom Draper 11:05

Oh, yes, is as soon as they apply, they're getting an email from us indicating we've received your email, we will reach out to you shortly, and and we do. Then we get the information that they've applied, we'll reach out to them, we'll let them know the status of their application and you know what the next steps will be so that they're informed. So, yes, the colleges have started to adapt to that or have been.

Travis Yates 11:31

Yeah, and and I you probably don't know this, but we we have a software package we built for law enforcement called Safeguard Connect that does that for agencies of all sizes. It's priced to where any agency can afford it, and they can have that same type of tool that the colleges have because, quite frankly, we see that it works. I mean, we've implementing Safeguard Connect, which does what you just said, Tom. It's nothing rocket science. I mean, every university and every private industry is doing it, immediately doubles the applications. That sounds insane, uh, but it's just because the processes we're talking about, you've got to fine-tune those. And and you've seen that there at the college, and you probably see what the kids want as well.

Tom Draper 12:07

Oh,

Colleges’ Fast Communication Model

Tom Draper 12:08

yes. And you know, going back to the agencies, I think some of it is that they're still stuck in the past. They're still stuck in while it worked for me, it'll work for them. And you got to get past that. You have to get to this generation, no matter what. And yes, that that's the way this generation is gonna be.

Travis Yates 12:29

You know, I I find it interesting that uh a lot of agencies are sort of doubling down on fancy recruiting videos or fancy marketing budgets with taglines. And I just want to I want to get your thought because I have kids, but you have a whole lot more kids that you talk to there. That does not impress my kids. They're on TikTok and Instagram and they do their thing. So some tactical, cool video that we're paying lots of money for, some branding branding thing that agencies are doing. The reason they haven't seen that work, and they haven't seen that work across the country, is because that's marketing, that's not recruiting. I want to know your thoughts on that because my my theory is you're not gonna convince a kid to come to your organization based on a video or a branding thing. It doesn't even come in the top hundred of what they already saw the day online, anyway. What's your thoughts on that?

Tom Draper 13:19

No, I agree totally. It this generation now is one of the first questions I get is

Marketing Isn’t Recruiting

Tom Draper 13:24

what's your schedule and how soon am I gonna be done? And am I gonna be able to still work while going to school? I mean, we're finding that our school has the largest diverse population in this state, no, hands down, and they still need to work. So we built a schedule so they can come in, they can finish up, and they can continue to work and provide for their families. But yes, I just a quick little story is on the whole video thing, is I was recruiting at a school and one student said, Hey, you gonna show us a fancy video like the other school? And I said, No. And I said, If I have to by doing a fancy little video to get you to come to our college and that's gonna draw you, well, that's all the wrong reasons to draw you in. Is well then you'll go someplace else. So I I don't think they're worth the the time that they put into them.

Travis Yates 14:28

Yeah, I I mean obviously that's what we believe, and we do those for some clients, but we tell them it's a secondary issue. Like, if you don't have people to show them to, it doesn't really matter what kind of video you do. I know we like the videos, Tom, because we're law enforcement, we like these videos, but we're not the generation we're trying to recruit. And we've seen our data tells us they're very, very they're not very effective. All in fact, we had one client that had a previous video and we showed them the sort of advertisement and sourcing that we do, like, yeah, we we like it, but we really want to see the video. We want the video in there. I said, Hey, we'll do the video in there as long as we can all look at the data at the end of the month to see. And we look at the data at the end of the month, and literally, I think the video was getting about one one thousandth of a of attention as the you know, as pictures that talk about, as you said, flexibility, days

What Young Candidates Actually Want

Travis Yates 15:14

off, schedules, things that get their attention. I don't think we put enough emphasis in that because one of the benefits of law enforcement, as long as they're staffed up a little bit, is man, you get to kind of a two days before you can put in for a vacation day, or you can put in for a vacation. Private industry is not like that. You know, you're six months ahead of time, you're having to predict your vacation. And so we work four tens and we work three twelves. So there's a lot of flexibility this new generation wants, but we're not seeing a lot of departments that are wanting to sort of emphasize that. It's all about the hiring bonus, it's all about the salary. And I keep telling them, listen, that's third, fourth, or fifth place in what these kids want. Yeah, because that it just is, and and so I just I guess I'd get your your thoughts on that.

Tom Draper 15:56

I totally agree with you on that, Travis. Because I mean back when I was working, I put together a uh 12-hour schedule for our department that I was working at, and everybody kind of looked at it and they said, Ah, we're gonna be spending all our time here, all this the old way of thinking, in my opinion. And then the sergeants, we worked the shift. And what did the officer say? Well, we never see it here. That's exactly right. Yeah, so they adopted the schedule, and the generation now is I want to have family time. Yeah, I want to be able to take my time off. So, what am I earning and what's my schedule look like so that I can spend holidays with my family if the rotation works out right? You know, it might not this year, but next year I will. So their their emphasis is different from many years ago. And like we've talked, agencies need to start moving that around a little more.

Travis Yates 16:58

Yeah, it's good stuff, Tom.

Culture, Mission, And Staying Power

Travis Yates 17:00

And your your intel is so valuable for our clients and for people watching this. I think we have a lot of good intent. We we want to there's not a lack of effort, right? A lot of agencies are doing a lot, a lot of recruiters are doing a lot, but you've got to focus that effort to be more efficient. We've of course built a system to do that, and we've made it accessible to every single department and every client we've had is staffing up full. We're seeing it from large agencies and small agencies, but I think coming from you, Tom, you're not selling anything, it's just your real experience. It has to be valuable because you're speaking to this generation each and every day, man. I can't thank you enough for doing that.

Tom Draper 17:34

Sure. That's I mean, that's what I'm here for, and that's I mean, that's what the school is here for, too. But again, um, you know, keeping them safe, one thing, training them how to do things properly and the right way, the honest way, integrity. Um and then, you know, what works good for them. You know, I always say, you know, this agency that you said can offer a ton of money, but what else are they offering you other than a ton of money?

Travis Yates 18:04

Yeah, man, and you're talking about hitting the nail on the head. I we keep talking about that, right? And and I just know it because I have kids that you know, I've got my oldest is 26, my youngest is 15. I know exactly what they're looking for. They they very little mention money. They they want they want to work in a good environment, a flexible environment, they want to work around people that support them and care for them, which is something that I think is difficult because Tom, I'm not gonna get into your past, but you were in law enforcement about the same time period I was. We actually didn't expect that. We actually expected a toxic environment, and we were almost manly enough to go, we'll work our way through it. Not today, you better not have that environment if you want these new kids to work for you, right?

Tom Draper 18:43

You yes, you are so right. I mean, it brings up so many memories.

Travis Yates 18:48

Such fond memories, right? Of all those good times.

Tom Draper 18:51

Oh, yeah, suck it up, butter cut, yeah, you know, stuff like that.

Travis Yates 18:55

Oh yeah, and I tell you, I tell you what they relied on. They could do that, Tom, because man, we were lifers. That was just we were staying till 20 or 25 or 30, and we were lifers and we were stubborn. The kids today aren't lifers, so you better adjust or they'll just be gone. And by the way, the data is telling us, as I said, most of them won't make it five years, but I think they can. It's one of the greatest professions on the planet. Oh, we have to get to the specifics of why it is, and it ain't because of you, sergeant or lieutenant or chief, it ain't because of your hiring bonus, it's because you get to do stuff that is really cool, get back to the mission,

Contact And Closing

Travis Yates 19:31

show them the mission, let them know they can make a difference, and hire safeguard recruiting, and you're fixed, right? Yes, there you go. Tom Draper, man, it's been fun, man. I really appreciate you. If anybody wants to get a hold of you, how they can they do it? I know you can they can go to the college website, but anything else you want them to know?

Tom Draper 19:48

Uh, just it's tom.draper, and that's drap at hennepentech.edu.

Travis Yates 19:54

Thanks for what you're doing, Tom. Thanks for the I mean, you're playing an integral role in the future of our community, so thank you so much. Well, thank you. And if you've been watching or you've been listening, thank you. We'll see you next week.