What goes into the cost
- Recruiting: advertising, testing, recruiter time, job fairs, incentives
- Hiring: background investigation, polygraph, psychological and medical exams
- Academy: tuition or operating cost, salary and benefits while in training
- Field training: FTO time and pay differentials, reduced productivity for months
- Vacancy: overtime to cover shifts, often at premium rates
- Separation: payouts of accrued leave, equipment recovery and reissue
The costs that don't show up in the budget
Each experienced departure removes a potential field training officer, a detective candidate, or a future supervisor. Remaining officers work more overtime, which raises fatigue and the risk of further departures. Those effects are real even when they aren't itemized.
A simple way to estimate it
Multiply your sworn headcount by your annual turnover rate to get expected departures, then multiply by a per-departure cost. If you haven't built an agency-specific figure, a national benchmark is a reasonable starting point.
Frontline's planning model uses national benchmarks: an 8% annual turnover rate, about $70,000 per departure, and a 2.7% retention improvement, plus Section 125 savings of about $1,230 per participating employee per year.
For example, an agency of 100 officers at 8% turnover can expect about 8 departures a year; at $70,000 each, that is roughly $560,000 a year before any hidden costs.
Run your own numbers
Frontline's impact calculator uses these benchmarks to estimate one-year and five-year retention value and Section 125 savings for your agency based on participation. It's a planning estimate, not a guarantee — but it gives finance and command staff a shared starting point.
Common questions
- How much does it cost to replace a police officer?
- It varies widely by agency, academy model and local labor market. Frontline's planning model uses a national benchmark of about $70,000 per departure; building your own figure from the categories above gives a more precise estimate.
Sources and further reading
See what retention is worth to your agency.
Frontline's impact calculator estimates one-year and five-year retention value and Section 125 savings based on participation.