Police Recruitment Videos and their Relevance for Attracting Officers

This brief is based on the following published work:Simpson, R. (2023). Police recruitment videos and their relevance for attracting officers. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 17, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac057 Police recruitment videos are a widely used and highly salient form of police marketing. These videos can attract prospective applicants, communicate information about a policing career with a given agency, and help prospective applicants to assess their potential fit with that agency. Police agencies tend to highlight the more thrilling and high-risk elements of policing in their recruitment videos rather than the more community-oriented and low-risk elements of policing. The content of recruitment videos could impact who decides to pursue policing careers, the behaviour of officers once hired, as well as officer satisfaction and retention. Police leaders should pay careful attention to the content of their recruitment videos.