Diverse Police Officer Recruitment in Ithaca, New York, in 2020

Police Officer Recruitment in Ithaca, New York in 2020

Short description

Recruiting police officers with diverse backgrounds for Ithaca, New York, during a pandemic and amid sociopolitical challenges.

Notes before you begin

The case study is based on a contract with Ithaca Police Department that has been renewed on an annual basis since 2019.
The positive outcomes of the project are in contrast to law enforcement recruitment trends throughout the US during the same time period.
For client confidentiality, certain details and exact numbers are excluded from the case study.

Background

In the years leading up to 2019, the Ithaca Police Department (IPD) saw a steady decline in qualified applicants to become police officers in the city of Ithaca, New York. The Ithaca Police Department contracted D.H. Goodall to redesign the existing recruitment strategy, train the IPD recruitment team, and leverage data to measure success and drive decision making. The COVID-19 pandemic and social pressures made recruiting a challenge during and after 2020.

Objective

The goal of the contract was to increase the number of qualified candidates applying for police officer positions in the city of Ithaca, New York. Furthermore, the Ithaca Police Department desired to attract a diverse prospect pool that could better identify and connect with the community. All candidates must complete and pass a written civil service exam and physical fitness assessment to be hired by IPD.

Client Name

Ithaca Police Department, City of Ithaca

Release Date

May 5, 2022

Project Types

Recruitment, Data Analysis

Skills

Data Collection, Data Cleaning, Exploratory Data Analysis, Data Visualization

Tools

Tableau, Excel, CRM, ATS, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop

Data sets

Candidate information
Survey responses
US Census demographic data
Social media analytics
Web analytics

Results

D.H. Goodall collects, cleans, protects, and analyzes candidate data each year. For 2019, D.H. Goodall designed and implemented a recruitment process that captured data through each phase of the candidate’s journey. Anecdotal evidence signified substantial improvement in the number of applications compared to 2018; the City of Ithaca could not share the exact data. The year 2019 became a benchmark for the following years.

2020 results

19% of the total pool identified as female
40% of the total pool identified as racially diverse
71% were within the ideal age range for recruitment

Improvements from 2019 to 2020

60% increase in the total number of prospects
84% increase in the number of candidates interested in speaking with a police officer to learn more about the positions
26% increase in the number of female candidates