Law Enforcement Employment Screening

Screening candidates for law enforcement employment is a matter of risk assessment. The agency views risk from the lens of vicarious liability (i.e., the legal responsibility one has for the hiring of unqualified personnel). Were the applicant to be hired and a civil suit result from an officer’s intentional or negligent action, the agency, and its executive director, would likely be named as parties in that suit. In a much broader sense, there is inherent risk associated with hiring an individual who is inept at protecting the public. Any mistakes the officer makes reflect on the integrity of the agency. In order to try to find the best applicants, law enforcement agencies often employ a multiple hurdles selection process.

A multiple hurdles approach is a conventional ...