The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), in partnership with the University of Virginia Center for Public Safety and Justice and the National Association of Professional Staff in Public Safety, will host Restoring the Ranks: A Solutions-Based Conference on Recruitment and Retention in Law Enforcement. The conference will be held on October 27, 2025, at UVA Northern Virginia, located at 8095 Innovation Park Drive, Fairfax, Virginia, 22031.
The conference will unite law enforcement leaders, elected officials, and city and county managers to address one of the most urgent issues facing public safety today: rebuilding and sustaining the policing workforce. The event will identify and share practical solutions to challenges in law enforcement recruitment and retention. Agenda items include expert-led discussions on hiring practices, career pipelines, funding considerations, community trust, and organizational culture. The event is open to public safety leaders, including elected officials, law enforcement executives, city and county managers, recruiting professionals, and criminal justice policy experts.
Recent data from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) 2023 survey highlights the depth of the challenge. More than 70% of agencies reported that recruiting officers is significantly harder than it was five years ago, with most agencies now operating with a nearly 10% staffing shortfall. While some agencies have turned to short-term fixes like hiring bonuses and relaxed appearance standards, many leaders report these efforts only scratch the surface of a much larger problem.
“These numbers make clear that the issue cannot be solved by law enforcement alone,” said Thomas Canavan, executive director of the National Law Enforcement Museum. “Recruitment and retention intersect with budget priorities, hiring pipelines, public trust and organizational culture. That’s why it’s critical to bring together police executives, city managers, county leaders and elected officials to find solutions.”
Conference workshops will address topics such as community-based recruiting, leadership, organizational culture, and sustainable pipelines.
A “3-Minute Solutions Forum” will allow practitioners to present strategies in a concise format. Facilitated roundtables will explore budgeting, branding, garnering support from elected officials and the role of social media. The conference will also include a networking reception for participants and provide case studies and strategies to support implementation at the agency level.
“Retention and recruitment challenges remain a top issue for public safety agencies,” said Ben Haiman, executive director of the UVA Center for Public Safety and Justice. “This convening is an important opportunity to examine different levels of systems that impact public safety retention and recruitment and come up with actionable initiatives to positively impact organizations.”
Slated participants include Ganesha Martin, bureau chief of Constitutional Policing for the Minneapolis Police Department; Dr. Tanya Meisenholder, director of Police Research at the NYU School of Law’s Policing Project; Peter Newsham, chief of police for Prince William County, Virginia; Katie Syers, senior communications strategist at Julie Parker Communications; Joel Pope, director of Recruitment for the Baltimore Police Department; and Councilmember Dawn Luedtke, Montgomery County, Maryland, with more distinguished voices highlighted on the conference webpage.
Registration is available through the National Association of Professional Staff in Public Safety in collaboration with NLEOMF and the University of Virginia. To learn more or register for the event, please visit https://nleomf.org/event/restoring-the-ranks-2025/.
—www.NLEOMF.org—
