Council Audit and Finance Committee hears updates on APD recruiting and hiring practices

On Wednesday, City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee heard a briefing on the Austin Police Department’s recruiting and hiring efforts.

City leaders have been raising concerns about APD response times and staffing of sworn and non-sworn public safety employees for several years. The presentation this week focused on the findings of an audit on recruitment and hiring for sworn officers, which was commissioned in 2023. The period the audit evaluated overlapped with a 15-month span when APD was out of contract, and with the “pilot” new cadet class after classes were put on hold for one year in 2020.

Currently, APD applicants face a three- to four-month wait time from submitting an application to receiving their tentative acceptance to the police academy. Applicants must pass a written exam, a background check, plus a physical and mental examination.

“The objective of our audit was to determine if APD is effectively, efficiently and equitably recruiting and hiring sworn staff,” said Jasmine Triplett, the city auditor who led the review.

According to the briefing, APD’s vacancy rate increased from just over 3 percent to nearly 18 percent from Fiscal Years 2021 to 2024.

“The first finding (of the audit) is that … APD does not have an effective recruitment strategy to address their hiring issues,” Triplett said. She added that APD’s recruitment goals are not specific or measurable enough. For instance, the department’s current Strategic Plan includes a broad goal to recruit a “diverse and skilled workforce.”

Triplett did applaud some of APD’s recruitment efforts at military institutions, historically black colleges and universities, and local high schools. The department has also signed on to the national “30 x 30 Initiative” and aims to increase its staffing to 30 percent women by 2030.

Triplett said her office found that APD did not have clear metrics to evaluate the success of their recruitment efforts. She also had some concerns about data being entered inconsistently about applicants moving through the hiring process.

Another major finding was that APD does not have a “recruitment pipeline” – a longer-term series of opportunities for potential future applicants. Currently, APD has two youth outreach programs and a reserve unit for retired APD officers to temporarily assist during special events. Opportunities to engage potential recruits before they reach the application age (20.5) are fairly short-term.

Based on these findings, the Office of the City Auditor is making four recommendations to APD, with more specific suggested actions under each. The recommendations are: crafting a recruitment strategy with measurable goals; updating standard operating procedures and training staff to improve data reliability; better coordinating recruitment posts on social media; and creating a recruitment pipeline to maintain applicant engagement.

Robin Henderson, APD’s chief of staff (and former interim chief of police) spoke to the committee about the department’s response to the audit.

Henderson described APD’s current recruiting approach as “customer-centric” and “data-driven,” emphasizing that the focus was on the experience of potential applicants and on evaluating whether the current touchpoints for recruitment are effective.

“We were in a time of tremendous attrition … starting, essentially, in 2017 … and again when we fell out of contract in 2022,” Henderson said. She noted that, until recently, APD’s officer attrition rate over four years was approximately 150 per year. This year, APD is seeing officers separate at one-third of that rate, which Henderson credits to the recent police contract.

APD has more agility for recruiting when under an active contract with the Austin Police Association than it does under stopgap periods when a contract has ended. When under contract, APD has more flexibility to administer admission exams outside of the state, and to extend offer letters sooner, so that applicants don’t lose interest. Most recently, APD was outside of a contract from the first quarter of 2023 to October 2024.

“When we have a contract … that contract allows for APD to recruit and do things in different ways. If we’re not under contract, then it defaults back to the statutory provisions … and there are limitations,” Mayor Kirk Watson said.

“Each three to four months, we are opening up a new hiring cycle, now that we’re back under contract,” Henderson said. Cadet classes were paused in August 2020 to implement reforms. Classes resumed in June 2021. Twenty-nine cadets graduated last month. Another class of 51 is currently underway, and an additional class of 63 will begin soon. APD is currently hiring for its 156th cadet class, which begins in August.

Henderson said the department is focused on maintaining relationships with cadets or applicants who may not be qualified during an initial application cycle. Additionally, the academy now has an on-site wellness coordinator to support cadets who are facing challenges.

She described APD’s data system as “robust,” but said there were “some gaps” in tracking data around where or why applicants didn’t pass various stages of the application process. The department has hired a data analyst.

Henderson explained that the recent increase in applications has caused a bottleneck in processing the applications. Staffers are dividing their time between processing applications and promoting for the next hiring cycle, so recruitment efforts taper off a little. She said some funding for marketing partnerships could enable the department to push out more recruitment messages while reviewing applications.

She added that APD’s third most effective recruiting tool has been their officers, and the connections they form. Henderson also addressed a prior Council question about filming a reality show-style recruitment video about APD. This is not legal, but a commercial might be.

Also in response to the audit, APD has been working to cross-collaborate recruitment content on its various social media accounts. Previously, some APD accounts were devoted to local public safety updates and did not prominently feature recruitment information.

The department recently received a grant to fund a new program with 60 high school-aged students who may be interested in joining APD when they reach the application age. Input from these students will also be used to create more effective recruiting strategies for young Austinites.

APD is also engaging with the Police Executive Research Forum on best practices. The Department of Justice and the Major Cities Chiefs Association have both recently cited the Austin Police Department as an example for modernizing applicant standards and innovative advertising.

Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes asked if the department planned to create an action plan for recruitment. Chief Lisa Davis confirmed that APD would return with a more specific recruitment plan, adding that Chief Henderson was recently placed in charge of recruitment and the academy.

“We have to truly think big about this, and … that is absolutely the direction we’re going,” Davis said.

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