Here's why police are struggling to recruit new officers — and why some still want to wear a badge

Eric Luna Martinez has been around police his whole life.

"I was born in Mexico and I had a grandfather who was a police officer," he said.

The 17-year-old who lives in Hamilton said he wants to wear a badge, but also has reservations.

"The hatred people have toward the police and police brutality, that is pretty bad and quite frankly very demotivating," Luna Martinez said.

Lucas Giles, 20, is also an aspiring officer in Hamilton. He's set on joining the service, but said he gets "worried" hearing about staffing levels.

"You don't want to be burning yourself out," Giles said.

The considerations Luna Martinez and Giles have are some reasons Hamilton Police Service (HPS) are among the police services across Canada struggling to recruit people.

In Hamilton, police say 1,900 people applied to the service in 2020 but two years later, in 2022, just over 1,000 applied. The drop is causing concern over the quality of applicants and the ability to fill positions when officers retire or go on leave.

"Places like Surrey, B.C., and other out-of-province services are actually headhunting in Ontario for people to come out there because they're struggling too," Jaimi Bannon, president of the Hamilton Police Association (HPA), told CBC Hamilton.

Her comments come after eight officers died on the job across Canada over the past year. Police services have also faced mounting scrutiny for their use of force and demands on taxpayer dollars. 

Police services and the unions who represent officers are trying to improve their public image and attract recruits as existing officers retire and deal with low morale and burnout.

What factors do police say are impacting recruitment? 

Sgt. Ryan Smutnicki, in charge of HPS recruiting, said the number of people applying to policing has fallen over the past five years.

The service currently has around 1,200 unionized members, approximately 850 of which are sworn officers.

Each year, Smutnicki said, the goal is to approve between 15 and 20 applicants and have them do 14 weeks of training at the Ontario Police College to become new sworn officers.

Smutnicki said HPS hired 57 sworn officers last year and had six officers transfer in from other services. He wouldn't say if HPS is handing out hiring bonuses to recruits.

While the pandemic lockdowns made overall recruitment challenging by limiting in-person sessions, Smutnicki said recent police deaths might be deterring people from applying.

Bannon and a policing researcher point to other issues like morale and workload.

Bannon, who was an officer for 29 years before becoming union president, said staffing has been at "crisis levels" for the past five years but worsened through the pandemic. She also said officers are "working past burnout."

In Hamilton, just 15 per cent of sworn officers said they had enough employees to staff their shift or unit, 38 per cent said they had the resources to effectively perform their job and 34 per cent said the workload is manageable, according to an HPS member survey from 2018.

Four years later, in 2022, the issues persisted, according to HPS.

HPS said a new survey shows 31 per cent of members said they have the resources to do the job effectively and 32 per cent felt the workload is manageable.

The 2022 survey also showed 42 per cent of members felt they have enough training to do their job.

Community collaboration can help solve workload issue: HPA president

Bannon said part of the workload problem is officers responding to issues like mental health calls, noise complaints and bylaw complaints when other agencies should respond instead.

HPS said it stopped responding to noise complaints that don't impact public safety late in 2022 due to staffing pressures.

Bannon said part of the solution is collaborating with community partners and reorganizing how services are delivered.

Scott Blandford, the program co-ordinator of the policing and public safety programs at Wilfrid Laurier University who also spent 30 years policing in London, Ont., echoed Bannon's comments.

"It's not uncommon for officers to go an entire 10-hour shift and not get a lunch break," Blandford said.

He said another contributor to recruitment woes comes from hiring freezes in the '80s and '90s, which created a bubble that is now bursting with more officers retiring after lengthy careers.

Blandford said there are also more officers on disability leave or stress leave than the past, which means current officers have to work more overtime and, as a result, get burned out faster.

Hamilton police Chief Frank Bergen told city council in January — in his pitch for a $196-million policing budget — that most of the budget is to pay officers's salaries, overtime and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claims. 

Bannon and Blandford said an extra layer of stress today that past generations of officers haven't faced is the era of social media, which sees videos of police interactions go viral.

Videos hold officers accountable and can reveal instances of harm caused by police, but Blandford said it also impacts public perception and discourages people from entering policing.

In Hamilton for instance, video caught numerous recent instances of police misconduct, including a police officer stomping on an Indigenous man's head during an arrest, which prompted the police services board to call for a review of its policies and procedures related to use of force.

Taking up police work as a racialized person

Blandford said police may also want to consider scaling back their militarization — like how police officers look more like SWAT team members now compared to years past — which can intimidate people, he said.

Blandford said scaling back could help efforts to diversify policing, especially if a racialized person is considering policing but their family or community has had negative interactions with officers.

Luna Martinez said he has had to reconcile being racialized and his desire to pursue policing. "It does seem like [family and friends] feel a bit betrayed," he said.

But Luna Martinez thinks being racialized means he can connect with other people of colour.

Smutnicki also said HPS has had success reaching diverse communities.

He said 32 per cent of all sworn officer hires in 2022 were "diverse" and 55 per cent of all cadets hired last year were "diverse." He didn't explain what HPS considers diverse but attributed the percentage to HPS doing community outreach, such as an LGBTQ outreach night in November.

Luna Martinez and Giles said despite some concerns, they're both set on joining the service.

Giles said he wants to make a positive impact in his hometown.

"On someone's worst day, you try to make it better," he said.

Luna Martinez, meanwhile, said HPS recruitment sessions and positive interactions with officers has made him want to join, as does his desire to support racialized community members through police work.

He said when he attended a recruitment session in February, Bergen spoke to prospective officers and emphasized the importance of diversity in policing.

"That's really inspirational," he said.