Does humanizing the police improve the effectiveness of police recruiting efforts?

Research Summary: U.S. police agencies are currently facing a serious recruiting and staffing crisis. As a result, many scholars and police leaders are re-examining police recruiting methods. This study draws on the field of intergroup communication to examine the effects of how police are portrayed in police recruitment materials. Using a randomized survey experiment, we tested the effects of humanizing how officers are portrayed in a recruiting video relative to a more traditional, action-oriented portrayal. We showed police recruiting videos to a sample of 325 university students. Within the videos, we varied how a female police officer described her career and her personal life. We then measured the extent to which the treatment influenced participants’ general attitudes toward police and specific attitudes toward working in policing. The treatment had significant effects on the two general attitudinal outcomes (shared identity and institutional trust), but did not have a significant direct effect on respondents’ interest in working in policing. Notably, the treatment had significant indirect effects on respondents’ interest in a career in policing via shared identity, but not via institutional trust. Policy Implications: Applying principles from the study of intergroup communication can help police agencies develop recruiting materials that humanize the police and promote a shared identity with police officers, thereby attracting a larger and more potentially diverse pool of candidates.