identified key practices and their implementation steps that can serve as a basis for federal agencies, including DHS, seeking to transform their cultures to be more results-oriented, customer-focused, and collaborative in nature. Our report on these implementation steps is being released today.

Some of these steps are to

define and articulate a succinct and compelling reason for change;
identify cultural features of merging organizations to increase
understanding of former work environments;

⚫ adopt leading practices to implement effective performance management
systems with adequate safeguards; and

U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational Transformations, GAO-03-669 (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 2003).

Table 1: Federal Uniformed Police Forces with 50 or More Officers Stationed in the Washington MSA

The enactment of the Homeland Security Act' on November 25, 2002, had consequences for federal uniformed police forces. The act, among other things, established a new DHS, which includes 2 uniformed police forces within the scope of our review-the Federal Protective Service and the Secret Service Uniformed Division. Another component of DHS is TSA, a former component of the Department of Transportation. TSA includes the Federal Air Marshal Service, designed to protect domestic and international airline flights against hijacking and terrorist attacks. During fiscal year 2002, the Federal Air Marshal Program increased its recruiting significantly in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. However, by fiscal year 2003, the buildup had been substantially completed. Because Federal Air Marshals are not limited to the grade and pay step structure of the federal government's General Schedule, TSA has

'P.L. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (2002).

been able to offer recruits higher compensation and more flexible benefit packages than many other federal police forces.

Federal uniformed police forces operate under various compensation systems. Some federal police forces are covered by the General Schedule pay system and others are covered by different pay systems authorized by various laws. Since 1984, all new federal employees have been covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).* Federal police forces provide either standard federal retirement benefits or federal law enforcement retirement benefits.'

Studies of employee retention indicate that turnover is a complex and multifaceted problem. People leave their jobs for a variety of reasons. Compensation is often cited as a primary reason for employee turnover. However, nonpay factors, such as age, job tenure, job satisfaction, and job location, may also affect individuals' decisions to leave their jobs.

During recent years, the federal government has implemented many human capital flexibilities to help agencies attract and retain sufficient numbers of high-quality employees to complete their missions. Human

"The General Schedule system consists of 22 broad occupational groups. Each group includes separate series that represent occupations in that group. The police series (GS-0083) is within the Miscellaneous Occupations group. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) defines the police series as positions in which the primary duties are the performance or supervision of law enforcement work in the preservation of the peace; the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes; the arrest or apprehension of violators; and the provision of assistance to citizens in emergency situations, including the protection of civil rights.

*FERS benefits are derived from three components: an annuity, a thrift savings plan, and Social Security. The basic annuity provided under FERS is computed on the basis of (1) years of service and (2) the 3 years of service with the highest annual salaries (high 3). Congress intended that the second component of FERS-the Thrift Savings Plan-be a key element of FERS. The Thrift Savings Plan provides for an employer contribution, including an automatic contribution of 1 percent of salary, along with a matching contribution of up to 5 percent. Social Security benefits make up the third component of the retirement package. The Civil Service Retirement System annuity, which applies to individuals hired prior to January 1, 1984, is a stand-alone annuity based on age and years of service. 'Under FERS, officers receiving federal law enforcement retirement benefits receive 1.7 percent of their high 3 multiplied by the first 20 years of service and 1 percent multiplied by each year of service greater than 20 years. Thus, a police officer who retires at age 50 with 20 years of service would receive 34 percent of the officer's high 3. After 30 years of service, the benefit would be 44 percent of the officer's high 3. Officers retiring under FERS would also receive benefits from their Thrift Savings Plan accounts and Social Security.

capital flexibilities can include actions related to such areas as recruitment, retention, competition, position classification, incentive awards and recognition, training and development, and work-life policies. We have stated in recent reports that the effective, efficient, and transparent use of human capital flexibilities must be a key component of agency efforts to address human capital challenges.' The tailored use of such flexibilities for recruiting and retaining high-quality employees is an important cornerstone of our model of strategic human capital management.

Most Forces Experienced
Recruitment Difficulties

Eight of the 13 police forces reported difficulties recruiting officers from a moderate to a very great extent. Despite recruitment difficulties faced by many of the police forces, none of the police forces used important human capital recruitment flexibilities, such as recruitment bonuses and student loan repayments, in fiscal year 2002. Some police force officials reported that the human capital recruitment flexibilities were not used for various reasons, such as limited funding or that the flexibilities themselves were not available to the forces during the fiscal year 2002 recruiting cycle."

Officials at 4 of the 13 police forces (Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Police, Federal
Protective Service, and NIH Police) reported that they were having a great
or very great deal of difficulty recruiting officers. In addition, officials at
5 police forces reported that they were having difficulty recruiting officers
to a little or some extent or to a moderate extent. Among the reasons given
for recruitment difficulties were:

Conversely, officials at 4 of the 13 police forces (Library of Congress Police, the Supreme Court Police, U.S. Mint Police, and U.S. Postal Service Police) reported that they were not having difficulty recruiting officers. Library of Congress officials attributed their police force's lack of difficulty recruiting officers to attractive pay and working conditions and the ability to hire officers at any age above 20 and who also will not be subject to a mandatory retirement age." Supreme Court officials told us that their police force had solved a recent recruitment problem by focusing additional resources on recruiting and emphasizing the force's attractive work environment to potential recruits. U.S. Postal Service officials reported that their police force was not experiencing a recruitment problem because it hired its police officers from within the agency. Table 2 provides a summary of the level of recruitment difficulties reported by the 13 police forces.

Table 2: Extent to Which Police Forces Reported Experiencing Recruitment Difficulties in the Washington MSA