6.5. Recruitment and Hiring in Policing

History of Recruitment and Hiring

What History? ‘Nil’ For lack of a better word, would describe the history of recruitment and hiring of new officers. Before the 1960s, as long as the candidate was a white male, had a heartbeat, and there was an opening for a cop, the job was most likely his. Women and officers of color were all but non-existent on the force. Women were only allowed into the ‘boys-only club’ if they wore a pencil skirt and fit a prescribed role consistent with being a woman. In some departments, women were allowed to work in the detective bureau and interview children victims, because women supposedly talked to children better than men, because of their ‘maternal’ instincts. These stereotypes continued in policing towards women and minorities until new laws forbidding such behavior made their way onto the scene. With new employment laws passed between the 1960s to the late 1990s, many doors opened for women and minorities.

The Law Enforcement Testing Preparation (LET Prep)

One of the most challenging entry-level testing processes in the United States is for the position of police officer. A typical ‘regular’ job, such as a cashier at a store, requires the candidate to fill out a job application, then go onto a job interview, and poof, they are hired! There is a good reason why the LET Prep is so difficult and thorough. Unlike a cashier, a police officer, once hired and trained, becomes the beholder of great power with authority to take away a person’s freedom all under the protection of the government to shoot and possibly take a life, when a life is threatened. Officers have the authority to take away a person’s rights and freedoms and this type of power should not be given to anyone with just the flick of a coin, the testing process should be rigorous and thorough. Therefore, with those facts, the law enforcement testing process should be thorough and rigorous, to ensure the right candidate is hired.

When thinking of the LET Prep, it can help to compare it to the ACT, SAT, National Football League Training Camp, and military boot camp, all combined. The best way a new candidate can ensure failure is to forego studying and go into the process unprepared.

Written Test -LET Prep

The written test is tough! It can be compared with the ACT and SAT and some parts are even a bit more difficult! Eighty percent of the candidates who take the written test fail! The written test has the following types of questions:

• Reading Comprehension
• Vocabulary
• Spelling and Grammar
• Observation/Memory
• Deductive Reasoning/Inductive Reasoning
• Spatial Orientation
• Math
• Essay/Incident Report Writing/Written Communication
• Analytical Ability

Every law enforcement department is different, although generally there are two basic ways departments administer the written test. The first is through an online testing service. The candidate registers online to take the test and then will go to a pre-determined location (such as a library) with a proctor, to take the written exam on a computer. The candidate can then send their exam score to a participating law enforcement agency, to which the candidate is applying. The second is through the law enforcement agency itself. The agency the candidate is testing for will post the written test date, and the candidate will respond to the agency and take the written test. Most agencies score the written test on site, and the candidate learns right there and then if they have a passing score to move forward in the testing process. Every agency also differs concerning the passing score. Most agencies require at least seventy percent to pass the written test and move on in the hiring process. Although there are no set rules as to the passing score, some agencies require seventy-five or eighty percent to pass the written test, it just depends on the individual agency.

The written test is tough! There are no shortcuts for studying for it, except to sit down and put the time in. The best way to study is to take one subject at a time, study one hour a night, and follow up with practice tests of the respective subject. List the areas of concern after grading the practice tests and move on to the next subject. After all subjects have been studied, go back and spend more time focusing on the areas of concern. A reasonable period needed to study for the written test is generally six to twelve months.

Physical Agility Test- LET Prep

The physical agility test is given in three different ways, depending on the department;

#1-State Physical Agility Test: In Oregon, for example, most of the departments utilize the ORPAT or Oregon Physical Agility Test. The ORPAT is a job sample physical ability assessment process. The goal is to assess an entry-level police officer candidate in the physical demands a police officer is likely to replicate during routine duties.

• Part One- Mobility Run: 1235 Foot Obstacle Run Where the Candidate Demonstrates Mobility, Agility, Flexibility, Power, and General Physical Endurance
• Part Two- Push Activity, Controlled Falls, Pull Activity
• Part Three- ‘Dummy’ Drag, 165-pound ‘Dummy’ is Dragged 25 Feet

#2-Physical Agility Test: A department will hire various testing agencies that have developed physical agility courses, to set up and test entry-level police candidates.

• A description of a ‘dummy’ suspect is given (this ‘dummy’ just committed a crime)
• The candidate runs through various obstacles; four-foot cyclone fence jump, window crawl through, one-hundred to three-hundred-yard dash, and six-foot fence jump
• The candidate picks the suspect ‘dummy’ out of a lineup and drags the one-hundred+ pound suspect ‘dummy’ twenty+ feet

#3-Military Physical Fitness Test

• Push-ups: a certain number, in a specified amount of time
• Sit-ups: a certain number, in a specified amount of time
• Pull-ups: a certain number, in a specified amount of time
• Two-mile run: in a specified amount of time (times are dependent on the sex and age of the candidate)

Just as with the written test, the physical agility/physical fitness test must be prepared for. All of the above three tests require the candidate to work out and perform various physical fitness activities for a specified period before the testing process to ensure the candidate is in proper physical condition for the test. It is also the time for the candidate to realize that physical fitness must be a career-long decision in law enforcement, and this is the perfect time to start with the mindset of keeping physically fit as a lifestyle.

Officers with the Ashland Police Department teach a defensive tactics class during the annual Lock-In Event. This is a great time for SOU CCJ students to learn the tactics officers train in during the police academy and every year during defensive tactics recertification.

Oral Board Interview- LET Prep

The oral board interview is one of the least prepared for testing portion of the LET Prep since the questions for an entry-level police officer candidate are very basic:

• Tell us about yourself.
• Why do you want to be a police officer?
• What have you done to prepare for the job?

There often is the feeling by candidates, that the answers to the above questions are a given and known, therefore why would one need to study or prepare for such easy questions? However, that way of thinking could not be further from the truth. The oral board interview consists of a table with four police department representatives, usually a police officer, possibly a volunteer police department representative, and one or two supervisors on one side of the table, and one chair placed in the center of the room (or the opposite side of the table) for the candidate to sit. This setup is meant to place the candidate on the spot and cause some stress to occur. This will help the panel members see how the candidate responds to stress. The reason behind this is that the job of a police officer will entail at times, stressful situations and being the center of attention when citizens look towards the police officer for guidance. Therefore, this is one way to gauge how the candidate or future police officer will respond in a stressful situation.

Successful candidates learn positive ways to prepare for the oral board interview by taking college/university classes, obtaining study guides, writing out answers to the obvious questions, memorizing answers, and conducting practice sessions with family and friends where the questions and answers are read aloud.

Assessment Center/B-Pad- LET Prep

Assessment centers are not new to police department testing. However, they have generally been utilized for management promotional testing, when a police officer tests to be a sergeant or a sergeant tests to be a lieutenant. With successful results in the previous arena and with the importance of hiring the best candidate, human resources and recruitment divisions have turned towards assessment centers and B-Pad Video Assessment, as an additional layer of testing in the LET Prep, to ensure hiring of the correct candidate.

Assessment centers are practical testing situations, where the candidate must ‘act’ out their response. It is a time for the testing agency to see how the candidate might respond in different situations. One of the most common assessment centers utilized at the entry police candidate level is the group assessment center. This group assessment center can look very different depending on the agency hosting the assessment, but the general framework is the same for all. For the group assessment center, eight to twelve candidates will enter the testing facility and sit around a table. The proctor will then give the candidates an ‘issue’ to solve. Example issue: “There have been a large number of bicycles stolen from the university in the last three months.  What can we do to stop this?” There will be two to four evaluators at a table adjacent to where the candidates are sitting, and the evaluators watch and listen while the candidates try and solve the issue. It is impressive how quickly candidates lose their temper, become rude to other candidates, talk over candidates, or more positively, how candidates work with other candidates, complement real ideas, and work quickly towards a viable solution.

B-Pad Video Assessments are completed generally with one candidate at a time. A candidate enters a room alone, and a proctor shows the candidate a projector screen and a video camera. A video camera records the candidate. The proctor starts the video camera recording and leaves the room. Once the video starts playing, the candidate must respond towards the screen, and ‘act’ out whatever the candidate feels is the appropriate answer to the situation. One such example of the scenario played on the video was of a mentally challenged individual who was asking to return to Mars. The individual in the video had a knife. The candidate had to talk and act out what should be said to the mentally challenged individual in the video. The recording of the candidate is then watched at a later time by a panel of evaluators from the department and graded accordingly.

Background Investigation-LET Prep

The background investigation is probably one of the most critical portions of the testing process. After the candidate passes the written, physical fitness/agility, oral board interview, and assessment center portions of the test, the candidate is given a background packet to fill out. The packet is very thorough and asks the candidate everything from where the candidate went to school, worked, prior drug use, prior arrests, and prior illegal actions/criminal activity (even if not arrested). The background investigator can spend days to weeks, investigating the candidate to ensure honesty and a good moral compass. One issue in this portion of the testing centers around prior drug use and criminal activity. Unfortunately, most agencies do not list their requirements on past drug use openly. Several agencies utilize the FBI’s prior drug use policy. However, most agencies can make their own decisions for each candidate.

Psychological Evaluation- LET Prep

The psychological evaluation (psych eval) is one of the least understood of the hiring process. When asked, a majority of the candidates openly state they have nothing to worry about since the psych eval only tests for psychos, but they will also admit that they quietly fear the psych eval since it is the unknown that causes the most fear. There is no way to study for the psych eval. The best advice given is to tell the truth and this holds for every part of the L.E.T. Process. However, do understand that the psych eval is not just looking for those candidates with mental illnesses, it is also looking for those who will not make good police officers or have aggression issues or controlling issues to name a few.

Medical Examination- LET Prep

The state where the candidate is going to work as a police officer will determine the depth at which the medical/physical is completed. Possible testing that could occur during this phase of the testing process is:

• Blood/urine/hair drug tests
• Hearing test
• Eye examination
• Lung capacity
• EKG
• Treadmill stress test
• Chest X-Ray
• Cholesterol test
• Various other blood tests

Chief or Sheriff Interview- LET Prep

Once a candidate has passed the written test, physical agility test, oral board interview, group assessment center/B-Pad assessment, and background investigation, if the department is still interested in the candidate, the candidate is made a ‘conditional offer of employment.’ In layman’s terms, it means the department is interested in the candidate, but still wants the candidate to go through the psych eval and medical physical. Due to the intrusiveness of those two tests and results, the department must prove they are interested in the candidate enough to make a conditional offer of employment, all of which is dependent on the results of those two tests, of course.

If the candidate shows no issues with the psych eval or medical/physical, the candidate is then called into the Chief or Sheriff’s office (depending on the department) for an interview. After the interview and all of the above testing areas are finished, the Chief or Sheriff will most likely call a meeting with the background investigator and the psychologist who completed the psych eval and go over the final candidates one by one. From this meeting, a list is created of whom the department will hire. An ‘informal’ type of interview is informal since the ‘top cop’ (a.k.a. Chief or Sheriff) is looking to meet a potential new police officer.

Mentoring and Retaining

All too often, departments place everything into the LET Prep, and then after the candidate is offered the job, accepts, and starts the dream job of a police officer, this new officer can be lost and forgotten in the shuffle. Departments must ensure that mentoring and retaining occurs. Mentoring can be completed through proper supervision from the top down and ensuring first-level supervisors are responsible for those they supervise. A good supervisor can make the difference between an officer disliking or loving their job.