Interview with Captain Edward Poulson

Captain Edward Poulson, Oakland Police Department

"From the Field Experiences" Feature
Interview conducted via phone in May, 2008

Biography

Edward Poulson is a Captain of Police for the Oakland Police Department in Oakland, California. He is currently the Commander for the Bureau of Administration. The Bureau of Administration includes the following units: Backgrounds and Recruiting, Technology, Fiscal Services, and Personnel. Prior to serving as the Commander for the Bureau of Administration, Captain Poulson was the Commander for the School Police Unit and before that the Airport Security Unit at the Oakland Airport. Captain Poulson has served in a variety of assignments as an officer, sergeant, and lieutenant. These assignments included patrol, internal affairs, and investigations. Captain Poulson received a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from California State Hayward University in 2003.

Interview

Is there a national police staffing crisis?

I can't speak to the national issues but it seems that most California police departments with the exception of Los Angeles and Oakland are in a hiring freeze because of budget issues. The Oakland Police Department has never been able to achieve full staffing in the twenty years I have been here.

What makes Oakland Police Department able to hire when most others cannot?

The Mayor has pushed for aggressive hiring and the citizens of Oakland are behind it as well. Measure Y passed in 2004, and among other things it increased the full force of the department from 745 to 802. In March of 2008, $7.7 million was allocated to get the department to full staffing.

How are you using that money?

The money is used for all aspects of hiring, including $1 million dollars for advertising. Much of the advertising focuses on sporting events and news sources.

How will you get to full strength by December 31, 2008?

We'll get beyond full strength—we're going to hit somewhere between 808 and 813 by December 31, 2008. It's the sole mission of my team. We have greatly increased recruitment efforts. This includes very aggressive advertising, increased testing cycles, rapid background investigations and pre-hiring of eligible candidates. We are simply bringing more people into every stage of the process.

Will you also reach your goal to deploy 57 problem solving officers by the end of 2008?

No, these officers will not be fully-deployed until July, 2009. We will meet the hiring goal, but it will take additional time to get the new officers through training and into the field. After the officers are trained, the problem solving units that were temporarily disbanded will be reconstituted and the Measure Y problem solving officer positions will then be filled from the most qualified patrol officers.

Tell me about your unit?

One of my units at the Oakland Police Department is the Background and Recruitment section. I have 5 full time officers and 7 civilians. We also have a number of temporary civilian positions. Ten annuitants (retired officers that are hired on a temporary bases) process and investigate background investigations. These officers are "machines" at moving people through the process. Overtime compensation helps power the unit.

Are you attracting good recruits? If so, how?

Yes. Our officers are well compensated so this helps. In addition, there is not a lot of local competition with most departments in a hiring freeze so this benefits us as well. Some of the recruits we're attracting are individuals that always wanted to be officers. Others are seeking career changes, in part because of lay-offs or the threat of lay-offs in other industries. We're also recruiting a lot of former military personnel. These recruits do very well—they thrive in the process. We have very good recruits.

Are you attracting recruiting classes that reflect the community?

We have had some trouble attracting women. The goal for the next academy class is 25 percent women. I think this is a very ambitious goal that we are not likely to achieve. We are developing a working strategy to bring more women to the Department over the next few years.

What other hiring strategies have you employed?

We're looking at laterals and non-affiliates: two almost untapped markets for the Oakland Police Department.

The Oakland Police Department has not always been successful in attracting qualified laterals. There have been some scandals with lateral officers that didn't have enough previous street experience to be successful. We'll have a lateral-only academy starting in August, 2008 with Measure Y funding. Measure Y provided for a total hiring bonus of $500,000 or $25,000 per lateral. The City Attorney struck down the compensation strategy (because the money was tied to the person not the position) but the effort still attracted a lot of laterals to the Department. We're explicitly looking for laterals with street experience.

We're starting to re-consider non-affiliates. Non-affiliates are people who put themselves through a police academy. This is beneficial because, having already been through the academy, they require less training—10 weeks versus 26 weeks. Some consider non-affiliates to be risky because many have background issues, but if they are carefully screened—they can be successful recruits and officers. I recently visited a class of non-affiliates graduates—of the 17 I looked at; I may make conditional job offers to three. This is a pretty good ratio.

What hiring strategies are you employing?

We're selecting differently. We are hiring people that will make it through and thrive in the process. We lose between 26 and 44 percent in the academy and another 9-11 percent in field training, but I expect these numbers to go down with our emphasis on physical fitness. Our recruits will be fit enough to make it through the academy and into the field.

I'm also able to promise people jobs—give them a guarantee. Let them know if they make it through the various steps in the process I can offer them a job. Being able to confidently make this statement has made a big difference. And, since we're moving people through quicker there is less time to lose people to other departments.

What about retention?

Some people left the Department because of a new shift schedule. The schedule is a locked-rotating schedule. This means that each officer's days-off rotate within the 14-day period, but are the same from one 14-day period to the next. An example of the sometimes unpopular schedule is below:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Work	Work	Off	Off	Work	Work	Work
Off	Off	Work	Work	Off	Off	Off

Some just want to get out of law enforcement. Others just don't want to work in a hectic urban environment. We don't find many leaving for other departments because most aren't hiring.

Retirement is also an issue. The State of California has the 3% at 50 retirement system. Meaning that I get three percent of my base wage for every year of service after I turn 50 years old. At this time we have 50 individuals eligible to retire out of 750 sworn officers. We're expecting higher than the usual attrition in July 2009, because of the new contract. We also expect a large increase in retirements in October, 2009 due to how the retirement compensation is calculated. We're ready for this, we've planned for it.

Will you be able to stay at full staffing?

The Department can maintain the staffing level. The real question is whether there is the political will to overstaff so the department never falls below the authorized level again. We have an average attrition rate of just over 5 people per month. This translates into 60 positions a year or 7.4 % of the sworn work force. I have submitted a proposal to allow the Department to overstaff up to 7.4 % of the work force just to maintain a minimal staffing level. This really gets down to funding. A single police officer in California is very expensive.

How is the hiring changing the face of the workforce?

The force is increasingly younger—even now 88% have less than 7 years on the force. For them, all of the recent changes as a result of the consent decree and Measure Y and other initiatives are not changes—this is all they know.

The real challenge will be finding the officers we need among this generation. It is my impression that we are seeing people entering law enforcement for the money, not because this has always been their dream. This creates a whole list of new issues related to recruitment, hiring, and retention. Not to mention leadership and motivation to do the job.

What role can research play in force planning?

It's hard because every department is so different. I believe critical research into the best practices and standards, including from the military, can give some insight, but the research has to be tempered against the realities of the respective department. Participating in national forums which allow for peer interaction is important. The social interaction between participants will also prove to be helpful.

What has made the biggest difference in moving toward full strength?

A strong commitment from leadership, the ability to say "I can hire you," and the opportunity to seriously consider new recruiting channels, like hiring non-affiliates.