Critique of Police Recruitment Process

This essay looks at two different methods used as part of the police recruitment selection. For this essay we are looking at selection criteria 1: abilities/education (applicants must have completed further education since completion of high school) and selection criteria 4: personality assessment (applicants must possess the required personality profile which is deemed suitable for the enactment of operational police duties).

It is the aim of this essay to critique the above mentioned criteria and provide a recommendation based on the critique.

For education/abilities, this essay will look at the creation of Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) by Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), as well as various studies conducted by Roberg (1978) -The Roberg Study, and Smith and Aamodt (1997).

For personality assessment, this essay will look at various forms of psychological testing used by the police force such as NEO PI-R, Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

Firstly this essay will start by looking at education/abilities, and provide an easy to understand critique of how the various forms of higher education are beneficial to police recruitment selection.

Secondly this essay will address the benefits of various forms of psychological testing as an essential basis for police recruitment process.

Finally this essay will conclude that both the above mentioned methods are very valuable to the police recruitment process for very different reasons. Higher education is essential as it provided the 'blue print' that police officers need to deal with situations pertaining to the general public and their safety where as psychological/personality assessment testing is essential to the recruitment process as it is considered beneficial to know the mind set and mental agility of any person whom will be in charge of a lethal weapon.

EDUCATION

In the late 1960's, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) created an education program for police agencies called Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP), it is believed that college educated officers are more aware of social, cultural and ethnic problems in the community. They have a professional attitude and display more ethical behaviors. It is also believed that educated officers are sensitive to community relations, human behavior and possess a higher service standard. (Weiner, 1976; Muller and Fry, 1978; Tyre and Braunstein, 1992; Regoli, 1976). All these attributes are essential to becoming an effective law enforcement officer as police officers are public servants and must be able to interact with the general public at an acceptable level.

A study was