Recruitment and Retention of Arizona's Law Enforcement and Fire Service Personnel
Financed by the Arizona Board of Regents’ Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF) through a Regents’ Community Grant, collaborative teams at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona, and Morrison Institute for Public Policy convened to examine challenges and opportunities for Arizona's public safety workforce. On this page, you will find reports that examine current public safety workforce trends as well as retention and recruitment factors for law enforcement and fire service personnel. An executive summary highlights key takeaways and summarizes findings.
Recruitment and Retention of Arizona's Law Enforcement and Fire Service Personnel Executive Summary
This summary shares key takeaways from the five public safety workforce studies in the report series, including findings that examine the scope of retention and recruitment challenges as well as areas of opportunity for innovation. The executive summary also serves as an introduction to the research reports.
Arizona Fire Service and Law Enforcement Recruitment Survey
This report presents the results from a survey of 6,855 residents of Arizona and neighboring states (CA, CO, NM, NV, UT) about their interest in a public safety career and attitude towards recruitment incentives such as benefits and stipends.
“The results of the law enforcement and fire service recruitment survey provide large-scale empirical evidence on the level of interest that civilians have in pursuing a career as either a law enforcement officer or a firefighter. These results should help inform the decisions made by leaders and legislators as they seek to create and adjust policies and programs that encourage individuals to consider careers as public safety officials.” – Dr. Jason Sandvik
Arizona Law Enforcement Retention Survey
This report presents the results from a statewide survey of 4,999 current law enforcement officers about their satisfaction with their job, benefits, wages, and other factors impacting employee retention.
“The results of the law enforcement retention survey provide large-scale empirical evidence regarding the factors that have the greatest impact on the retention and turnover decisions of law enforcement officers in the state of Arizona. These results should help inform the decisions made by leaders and legislators as they seek to create and adjust policies and programs that affect law enforcement officers.” – Dr. Jason Sandvik
Arizona Fire Service Retention Survey
This report presents the results from a statewide survey of 1,850 current fire service personnel about their satisfaction with their job, benefits, wages, and other factors impacting employee retention.
“With input from stakeholders across the state of Arizona, our researchers were able to develop a survey specific to the culture of professional firefighters and gather evidence regarding the factors that have the greatest impact on the retention decisions of Arizona’s firefighters. These results should help inform the decisions made by leaders and legislators as they seek to create and adjust policies and programs that affect the retention of firefighter personnel in the state of Arizona.” -Dr. Dierdra Bycura
Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System Data Analysis
This report presents the results from an analysis of public safety personnel records and examines hiring, retirement, and exit trends as well as personnel movement between agencies and geographic areas.
“The quantitative analysis of public safety personnel records for the years of 2017-2022 enabled our team to provide numerical trends for interpretation of key research questions posed by stakeholders and to inform decision-making for public service leaders across the state of Arizona.” -Dr. Dierdra Bycura
This report presents the results from a review of public safety policy interventions to improve retention and recruitment, and shares common themes and takeaways from interviews with public service leaders across Arizona.
“This data offers potential strategies to help law enforcement and fire leaders understand how to enhance their current recruitment and retention efforts. The report also highlights the unique challenges faced by rural communities and offers insight into the needs of the younger generation of workers.” – Dr. Beth Huebner