The performance of two groups of Tasmania police employees (all of whom were constables or probationary constables) was evaluated after their first year of training and on-the-job employment. Group membership was a function of initial selection process — one group undertook detailed psychological profiling as part of their pre-employment testing, and the other group did not. The non-screened group was compared to the profiled (screened) group across a range of performance measures. Across seven out of eight measures, the screened group outperformed the non-screened group, with four of the differences statistically significant. The screened group also had a lower dropout rate. The simplest explanation of results suggests that a different quality of applicant is selected by the psychological profiling system, when compared to more traditional processes such as simple selection interviews. Implications for future selection of police personnel in Australia are also discussed.
