Recruiting for Quality and Diversity

Skills

As law enforcement departments turn to community-oriented, problem-solving (COPS) policing that emphasizes the formation of community partnerships and the use of a systematic model to solve problems, administrators have realized that officers needed to possess traits and skills different from past traditional officers. Although training in the new skills could increase existing abilities, they began to recognize the importance of recruiting individuals with aptitudes of service orientation, of sufficient analytical minds to be creative and good problem solvers, and with excellent interpersonal communication skills.

A job-task analysis can identify the traits, skills, and aptitude of effective COPS officers. Comprehensive job analysis has been used for [Page 341]decades by many professions and was introduced to most law enforcement agencies after the enactment of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The ADA required the hiring of individuals with disabilities and the accommodation of them in the working environment as long as they could demonstrate their ability to complete the tasks; therefore, it became crucial that professions including law enforcement be able to clearly define what critical tasks each job entailed. Through states’ training and standard criminal justice divisions, police agencies compiled specific lists of critical and frequent tasks, as well as the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to carry out the tasks of line officers and throughout the ranks. Applicants for law enforcement positions must demonstrate a certain entry level of competency for the listed tasks.

This need to systematically establish job-related responsibilities has evolved as law enforcement departments shift their line officers from the narrow role of crime fighting to the empowering responsibilities of identifying and analyzing problems, building trust, and interacting with diverse neighborhoods to help solve these problems. It became important also to expand job-task analysis to personal attributes that are measured in other ways than observable physical standards.

For example, the Sacramento (California) Police Department identified the following as core attributes: adaptability, commitment to service, communication skills, compassion, empathy, flexibility, integrity, objectivity, patience, respect, social concern, strong work ethic, tolerance, and intelligence. Other agencies have included independence; ability to make decisions; ability to receive, evaluate, and act on information from people of different cultures, values, and standards without bias; courage; and accountability. Law enforcement agencies often use psychological evaluations to measure these and other emotional and mental characteristics; however, they also include questions related to these attributes during background investigations and interview panels. These attributes are more difficult to evaluate and are more subjective than traditional, primarily physical traits and so require multiple assessment modalities. Questions to applicants’ family members, employers, friends, and neighbors during background investigations provide specific examples of individuals’ ability to cope with stress and anger, accountability, interactions with different types of people, and experience working independently among other attributes and behaviors. Many law enforcement agencies include a panel of ranking law enforcement officers who ask candidates a set of questions that help assess many of these same characteristics, as well as the candidates’ ability to articulate and “think on their feet.” Ethical dilemmas often are included in the questions to assess candidates’ comfort in ambiguous areas.

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