Views of Substance: Exploring Officer and Student Perceptions of Different Drugs as Police Hiring Disqualifiers

• In Event: Police Training: Recruitment and Retention

Abstract

There is a notable hiring crisis in the United States with many law enforcement agencies struggling to recruit sworn personnel. Due to these challenges, discussions have arisen about the criteria and disqualifiers for officer hiring. One particular area of interest has been drug disqualifiers, especially as it pertains to marijuana. We seek to expand on these efforts to explore perspectives on a wider range of drug types as disqualifiers. We use perspectives from both law enforcement personnel and criminal justice university students who serve as potential applicants or individuals committed to working in the criminal justice realm. Perspectives are drawn from a multistate survey study examining perceptions from samples in California, Mississippi, and Nevada. We compare perspectives on different substances across states for the respective law enforcement and student samples, as well as holistically between law enforcement and students overall. We highlight the extent of the consistency in the views of these groups. Practical implications of these findings, limitations, and directions for future research will also be discussed.

Authors

• Jon Bottema, Seattle University

• Sam Vickovic, California State University, Long Beach

• Weston Morrow, University of Nevada, Reno