Preemployment Psychological Screening of Police Officer Applicants

2021 ◽  
pp. 579-601
Author(s):  
Cary L. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Police Officer ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Police Psychology ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Psychological Screening ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Specialized Form ◽  
Guidelines And Standards ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
Core Practice

The psychological screening of law enforcement officer applicants represents a core practice area in police psychology. Significant advances have been made in recent years regarding the development of practice guidelines and standards. This chapter provides an overview of the essential components of this specialized form of high-stakes psychological assessment. Important legal principles are highlighted and key resources are identified. The core steps in a contemporary screening model are described and the psychological self-report measures most widely used in psychological screenings are profiled. Factors impacting the validity and usefulness of psychological test results are discussed. The critical need for preemployment psychological screenings of police officer candidates to be culturally sensitive is addressed, as are some of the criticisms that have been identified in the literature. The chapter stresses the need for preemployment assessments of police officer candidates to be evidence-based, ethically attuned, and consistent with recent advances in police psychology.

Preemployment Psychological Screening of Police Officer Applicants

2017 ◽  
pp. 28-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary L. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Police Officer ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Police Psychology ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Psychological Screening ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Specialized Form ◽  
Guidelines And Standards ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
Core Practice

The psychological screening of law enforcement officer applicants represents a core practice area in police psychology. Significant advances have been made in recent years regarding the development of practice guidelines and standards. This chapter provides an overview of the essential components of this specialized form of high-stakes psychological assessment. Important legal principles are highlighted and key resources are identified. The core steps in a contemporary screening model are described and the psychological self-report measures most widely used in psychological screenings are profiled. Factors impacting the validity and usefulness of psychological test results are discussed. The critical need for preemployment psychological screenings of police officer candidates to be culturally sensitive is addressed, as are some of the criticisms that have been identified in the literature. The chapter stresses the need for preemployment assessments of police officer candidates to be evidence-based, ethically attuned, and consistent with recent advances in police psychology.

Analyzing racial profiling from traffic searches

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 721-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Gennaro Vito ◽  
Elizabeth L. Grossi ◽  
George E. Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Racial Profiling ◽  
Statistical Technique ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Focal Concerns ◽  
Focal Concerns Theory

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of racial profiling when the traffic stop outcome is a search using focal concerns theory as a theoretical explanation for police officer decision making and propensity score matching (PSM) as a better analysis to understand the race of the driver. Design/methodology/approach The data for this study come from traffic stops conducted by the Louisville Police Department between January 1 and December 31, 2002. Findings The results show that the elements of focal concerns theory matter most when it comes to if a traffic stop that resulted in a search even though racial profiling was evident. The use of PSM provides evidence that it is a better statistical technique when studying racial profiling. The gender of the driver was significant for male drivers but not for female drivers. Research limitations/implications The data for this study are cross-sectional and are self-report data from the police officer. Practical implications This paper serves as a theoretical explanation that other researchers could use when studying racial profiling along with a better type of statistical analysis being PSM. Social implications The findings based on focal concerns theory could provide an explanation for police officer decision making that police departments could use to help citizens understand why a traffic stop search took place. Originality/value This is the first study of its kind to the researcher’s knowledge to apply focal concerns theory with PSM to understand traffic stop searches.

Using the MMPI-2-RF in Preemployment Evaluations of Police Officer Candidates

2017 ◽  
pp. 51-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yossef S. Ben-Porath ◽  
David M. Corey ◽  
Anthony M. Tarescavage
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Detailed Review ◽  
Police Candidates ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
Report Measure

The MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) is the current, most up-to-date version of the most widely used self-report measure of personality and psychopathology. Prior versions of the test were studied and used extensively in police candidate assessments. This chapter reviews the legal and empirical foundations for using the MMPI-2-RF in preemployment evaluations of police officer candidates and provides practical guidance for doing so. A detailed review of a series of recent studies on using the MMPI-2-RF in identification of high risk candidates is presented, followed by practical suggestions for integrating MMPI-2-RF findings with other sources of information when conducting preemployment evaluations of police candidates. The MMPI-2-RF Police Candidate Interpretive Report is highlighted.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF)predictors of police officer problem behavior and collateral self-report test scores.

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony M. Tarescavage ◽  
Gary L. Fischler ◽  
Bruce M. Cappo ◽  
David O. Hill ◽  
David M. Corey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Behavior ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory ◽  
Personality Inventory ◽  
Self Report

scholarly journals Topic and background knowledge effects on performance in speaking assessment

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahal Khabbazbashi
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Background Knowledge ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Systematic Effect ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Speaking Assessment ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Practical Effect ◽  
Task Types

This study explores the extent to which topic and background knowledge of topic affect spoken performance in a high-stakes speaking test. It is argued that evidence of a substantial influence may introduce construct-irrelevant variance and undermine test fairness. Data were collected from 81 non-native speakers of English who performed on 10 topics across three task types. Background knowledge and general language proficiency were measured using self-report questionnaires and C-tests respectively. Score data were analysed using many-facet Rasch measurement and multiple regression. Findings showed that for two of the three task types, the topics used in the study generally exhibited difficulty measures which were statistically distinct. However, the size of the differences in topic difficulties was too small to have a large practical effect on scores. Participants’ different levels of background knowledge were shown to have a systematic effect on performance. However, these statistically significant differences also failed to translate into practical significance. Findings hold implications for speaking performance assessment.

Do Social Desirability Scales Measure Dishonesty?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Djurre Holtrop ◽  
Angus W. Hughes ◽  
Patrick D. Dunlop ◽  
Joan Chan ◽  
Grace Steedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Desirability ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Personnel Selection ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Response Format ◽  
Socially Desirable Responding ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
False Response ◽  
Sum Scores

Abstract. Social Desirability (SD) scales are sometimes treated, by researchers, as measures of dishonesty and, by practitioners, as indicators of faking on self-report assessments in high-stakes settings, such as personnel selection. Applying SD scales to measure dishonesty or faking, however, remains a point of contention among the scientific community. This two-part study investigated if SD scales, with a True/ False response format, are valid for these purposes. Initially, 46 participants completed an SD scale and 12 personality items while under instruction to “think aloud”, that is, to verbalize all the thoughts they had. These spoken thoughts were recorded and transcribed. Next, 175 judges rated the participants’ honesty in relation to each SD item, based on the participants’ transcribed spoken thoughts and their selected response to the item. The results showed that responses keyed as “socially desirable responding” were judged as significantly less honest than those not keyed as such. However, the effect size was very small, and the socially desirable responses were still being judged as somewhat honest overall. Further, participants’ SD scale sum scores were not related to the judges’ ratings of participant honesty on the personality items. Thus, overall, SD scales appear to be a poor measure of dishonesty.

The Lazy or Dishonest Respondent: Detection and Prevention

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Winfred Arthur ◽  
Ellen Hagen ◽  
Felix George
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Response Distortion ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Careless Responding ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
Future Research Directions

Self-report measures are characterized as being susceptible to threats associated with deliberate dissimulation or response distortion (i.e., social desirability responding) and careless responding. Careless responding typically arises in low-stakes settings (e.g., participating in a study for course credit) where some respondents are not motivated to respond in a conscientious manner to the items. In contrast, in high-stakes assessments (e.g., prehire assessments), because of the outcomes associated with their responses, respondents are motivated to present themselves in as favorable a light as possible and, thus, may respond dishonestly in an effort to accomplish this objective. In this article, we draw a distinction between the lazy respondent, which we associate with careless responding, and the dishonest respondent, which we associate with response distortion. We then seek to answer the following questions for both careless responding and response distortion: ( a) What is it? ( b) Why is it a problem or concern? ( c) Why do people engage in it? ( d) How pervasive is it? ( e) Can and how is it prevented or mitigated? (  f ) How is it detected? ( g) What does one do when one detects it? We conclude with a discussion of suggested future research directions and some practical guidelines for practitioners and researchers. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Organizational Pscyhology and Organizational Behavior, Volume 8 is January 21, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

An Interview With Dr. Gardner, Police Psychologist Oakland County Sheriff's Office, MI

2021 ◽  
pp. 207-217
Author(s):  
Sneha Shankar
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Psychology ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Oakland County ◽  
Mental Health Integration ◽  
Police Psychologist

In this interview, Dr. Gardner, Police Psychologist of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, provides his insights about working with police officers. He provides an overview of the factors that influenced his decision to pursue this career and which experiences were the most meaningful in helping him be successful as a provider within this unique population. He describes his qualifications as a psychologist, his experiences as a police officer, and the importance of having both of these. He discusses the differences in culture between police officers and the community and the barrier this creates for non-police psychologists to serve such individuals. In addition, he reflects on the unhelpful aspects of cop culture and the negative effects this has on officers' mental health. For the sake of increasing mental health integration and improving officers' quality of life, he concludes by encouraging more individuals to pursue a career in police psychology.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document