WILLEMSTAD – The Curaçao Police Force (KPC) is facing a major staffing challenge in the coming years, with approximately half of its employees now over the age of 50. Police Chief Raymond Ellis says around 300 police employees are expected to reach retirement age over the next 15 years.
The aging workforce adds to existing personnel shortages within the police force and means KPC will have to recruit and train new officers continuously for years simply to maintain its current staffing levels.
If approximately 300 employees retire over the next 15 years, KPC would need an average of at least 20 new officers every year just to replace those leaving because of retirement. That figure does not include employees who resign or leave for other reasons, nor does it account for any future expansion of the force.
The challenge is particularly significant because recent recruitment numbers are not substantially higher than the projected annual retirement rate.
In January 2025, 16 aspiring police officers began a two-year training program. In early February 2026, another 11 police employees were sworn in after completing their training. Those employees had already been working within KPC as intake and call-handling personnel.
Justice Minister Shalten Hato has previously acknowledged that recruitment needs to be intensified. The problem is not limited to the police, with other organizations within Curaçao's justice system also dealing with aging workforces and difficulties attracting sufficient numbers of new employees.
The staffing concerns are not new. As early as 2022, warnings were issued about pressure on police staffing after numerous civil servants made use of an early voluntary departure arrangement. Even then, the aging workforce was identified as a structural problem for KPC.
The Ministry of Justice has since increased efforts to encourage younger people to consider careers in law enforcement.
Authorities have indicated that greater flexibility is being applied during the selection process, although the formal admission requirements have not been eliminated. Candidates must still meet educational, physical, psychological and language requirements before entering the police training program.
The figures presented by Ellis suggest recruitment alone will not be enough. KPC will also need to ensure that enough candidates successfully complete their training and remain with the organization.
With roughly half of the workforce already over 50, the replacement of experienced personnel is expected to become an increasingly urgent issue during the next decade.
The retirement of hundreds of experienced officers could also mean the loss of considerable institutional knowledge within KPC, making timely recruitment and the transfer of experience to a younger generation of police officers increasingly important.