One big issue I've heard relayed about the LE field is recruiting and retaining qualified applicants. If that's so much the case, why are qualified applicants being turned away?
I myself have been applying all over the place as of late, and have had some luck but no full job yet. Granted I've got a few things in my past some years back that don't look great, but have gotten rather far into a few departments' hiring processes. My own frustrations over not yet being hired aside, I've had contact with other applicants who have been turned away for unspecified or bogus reasons.
The main department where I reside has been struggling for near ten years now to fill a 100 slot vacancy created by a hiring initiative some time back. Last I knew, they've only gotten maybe half due to continuous retirees and officers going elsewhere. But when it comes to recruiting, they've turned away what I would've considered good applicants. We're a heavily military town, and numerous veterans have applied and been turned away for things as minor as tattoos. Even a former co-worker and good friend of mine couldn't get hired despite having put himself through the academy to aid his likelihood of being hired.
I was actually contacted by a member of the command staff for the department whom I know through my prior involvement with the Explorer post. There was a moderate amount of effort to track me down apparently, so I applied but got shut down after not passing their psych eval. Due to their policy, I'm not privy to the results but I suspect the shrink at their utilized "assessment mill" didn't care for my answer to a question pertaining to getting violent. Basically I conveyed I knew I had the capacity to get violent after experiences in my defensive tactics class in college. Guess I didn't fit their desired psych profile for the department, but oh well.
But then I see some of the people who get through who either later quit, get dropped for various reasons, or are too PC for their own good. It's as if the departments are more interested in "feel good" officers as opposed to solid, capable ones.
I grant it could be argued my assessment of what constitutes a qualified applicant could be questionable, but given my significant interest in the field plus my education through various outlets I would argue I have a moderate grasp on the concept.