NCJ Number
97265
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1985) Pages: 58-69
Date Published
1985
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This review of police officer selection literature covers psychological testing, job analysis, and the selection interview.
Abstract
Research on police selection is sparse, but there is considerable research on police personality. Methods used in the research to profile police officers in comparison with the profile of the general population were the Rokeach Value Survey, the measurement of conservatism and authoritarianism, Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire, Catell's 16 PF, and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Methods used to compare successful and unsuccessful police officers included intelligence tests, measures of the effect of education on success in the police force, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. The literature provides no clear conclusions about whether or not there is a distinct police personality or whether psychological testing can discriminate between police officers and members of the public or between successful and unsuccessful police officers. The literature on job analysis in recruit selection reveals problems in obtaining a job analysis that will apply to a variety of police forces or even to all officers in a given police force. Available literature provides no strong evidence of the reliability of the recruit selection interview in predicting future performance. In sum, the use of psychological testing should be complementary to other selection processes; interviewers should have strong positive feelings about the selection interview's value even though its validity is not proven; and job analysis results should be used as guidelines for the direction of the selection interview to improve its validity. Forty-eight references are listed.