A lot of attention has been paid to the recruiting struggles L.E. agencies have encountered, but a lot less time has been focused on ways to retain officers already on the force. Frederick, Maryland, Police Chief Jason Lando, who took the reins of the department in 2021, recently spoke to OFFICER Magazine about what his agency has done to keep its staff prepared and happy.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
This article appeared in the July/August issue of OFFICER Magazine. Click Here to subscribe to OFFICER Magazine.
Frederick is located near Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. How does that affect staffing?
We have a great relationship with our surrounding departments. We train together when opportunities come up and I’ve been really impressed by the great working relationship. As far as losing people to outside agencies, when I first got here, that was a concern that I had, but we haven’t lost one single officer to one of those larger agencies. In fact, we often get officers from some of those other agencies. I think those officers see some of the things we’re doing here and the way we take care of our staff, the way we’re supported by our community, the salary and the benefits.
How does Frederick recruit and retain officers?
We first must talk about how we take care of the people we already have. We can’t expect to recruit good cops if we’re not doing what we need to do on the front end to take care of our current team. Deputy Chief Capt. Joe Hayer talks about the “All Hands On Deck” approach and how our officers and staff are our best recruiters. You have to make sure that your house is in order before you try to bring other people into it. Our officers are out there in the community, they’re out at events talking about the Frederick Police Department. We also are very active on social media. It’s a lot different now than it was 20 or 30 years ago when it comes to recruitment. We have to be innovative.
How does the budget affect staffing?
We have about 210 employees at the Frederick Police Department and 155 of them are sworn officers. Would I love to see more? Of course I would, but I also realize that Frederick is a rapidly growing city and every department in the city, whether it’s us, whether it’s public works or parks and recreation, everyone needs more staff. Everything that we need, we get, and we owe that to our mayor and our elected officials. We are getting a few new positions for fiscal year 2025, and notably, they’ve even approved us to over hire by about seven officers in an attempt to keep us at full staffing because we anticipate next year we’re going to have up to seven retirements.
What has the FPD done to ensure officers stay?
Rather than offer hiring bonuses, our philosophy is to take all of the budgeted funds we have and use it to make this the best place for those who are already here. In my first two years, we focused on the community and building relationships. For my third year, I really wanted to make it about taking care of our officers and professional staff. One of the things we did was develop a new group called the Resiliency and Wellness Group. It is made up of 10 employees. Half are sworn and half are professional staff. The group meets every month to develop a strategic plan for wellness. We also have a peer ambassador program for officers and professional staff to help support each other, whether it’s police-related, or someone who happens to be really good at financial planning or something else. Another thing we started is a Chief for the Day program. I asked my office manager if she thought anyone would want to spend one day with me. She laughed and said, “I think it would be a good idea, but no one wants to be with the chief all day.” We actually have had 15 people signed up and 10 who have already completed it.
Listen to the full interview at officer.com/55127383
