A study of career development programs in Wisconsin municipal police agencies

Abstract

Police administrators have been challenged with problems of personnel turnover for many years. Experts in the field anticipate the ability of police agencies to attract and retain employees will continue to be a major challenge over the next ten years. Some police managers have suggested implementing career development programs as a way to address these issues. The purpose of this study was to investigate and evaluate the impact of career development programs in Wisconsin accredited municipal police agencies. Limited research has been done in this area, thus, the researcher chose a combination of research methodologies to learn what was happening in agencies utilizing career development programs. Results of this study offer encouraging words for police administrators considering implementing career development programs in their agency in efforts to enhance employee job satisfaction and reduce voluntary turnover.