As a newly-promoted captain in the Greenfield Police Department, I have been asked to study and review the existing officer hiring procedures, and to suggest how they can be updated to reflect the department’s current emphasis on community policing. My initial studies have revealed that the department has not changed its hiring process for many years. Because community policing is an important objective for police forces nationwide, it is clear that we must be part of that and should make changes in our local procedures, including recruitment, in part to reflect that requirement.
In the following paragraphs I have detailed my proposals to bring the Greenfield Police Department hiring procedures fully up to date, preceded by an outline of what I see as the current defects in the existing hiring procedures.
Existing Procedures – The Problems
1. The Written Entrance Exam: The content of this general knowledge exam shows that it was drafted a long time ago. It is not sufficiently relevant to the Greenfield Police Department, refers to outdated technology and police procedures, and focuses entirely on traditional crime fighting strategies. That is not a satisfactory situation.
2. The entry requirements for new officers insist upon possession by every applicant of a two-year law enforcement degree.
3. The interview process is too rigid with little opportunity for developing interaction with the applicant, whose responses are assessed against standard answers.
4. The physical fitness test is a mandatory element of the hiring procedure without room for adaptation or allowance for specific individual candidates.
5. There is zero focus on community policing awareness.
I consider that unless we change our recruiting procedures and criteria to reflect requirements that are relevant to today’s policing, including community policing, the Greenfield hiring manager will be effectively prevented from recruiting individuals that could be valuable assets to the department. Also the department as a whole will fall behind other police departments that are updating or have already updated their policies and procedures to stay abreast of modern policing techniques.
Proposed Specific Changes
The Written Entrance Exam. We should of course retain a written entrance exam as part of the hiring process, and continue to use it as an initial screening procedure. After all, whatever specific role a new officer fulfils, he/she should possess a reasonable level of intelligence and literacy. However, the existing exam needs major revision as follows:
Ensure that all questions are relevant to current events/procedures and law enforcement practices, including questions relating to community policing. (Remove any existing questions that are not appropriate);
Include not just simple multiple-choice questions (i.e. those that require a “tick” answer to the chosen option) but also questions that require written answers that will demonstrate the applicant’s reasoning and literacy skills and abilities. For example, requiring applicants to write a short essay on one of a choice of topics would be an excellent way to assess their writing skills;
Include elements that test the applicant’s observation, and perhaps even an interactive video test, that checks the applicant’s responses to real or created incidents requiring police involvement. The Denver Police Department Written Test Study Guide provides some good ideas and examples that could be utilized by our own department. That guide and links to other sample tests are accessible from the Law Enforcement Entrance Test article on the Police Jobs Info website.
Possession of a Law-Enforcement Degree. Whilst I believe that is a desirable qualification for officer applicants, I also believe it should not be mandatory for these reasons:
1. Candidates possessing some other college degree could be equally or even more suitable applicants for a job as a police officer. These days many police departments consider that other degrees such as criminal justice, psychology, or even business studies are equally acceptable; indeed some departments require only a high school diploma to be accepted as a patrol officer, though a degree is recommended if the applicant has ambitions of accelerated future promotion. An article entitled Requirements to Become a Police Officer on the Education-Portal.com website provides some good information with regard to entry qualification requirements.
2. An applicant may not possess a degree at all, but may be a person with extensive and proven experience as a police officer in another city or state. Turning such an applicant away for lack of a degree would surely be a nonsense.
The Interview Process. Our current interview process for new officer applicants is in my opinion too rigid, and because it focuses on comparisons with a set of standard answers to questions, discourages interaction with the candidates. Working through a predetermined series of questions is fine, but there needs to be room for variation. For example, there is a strong case for introducing questions that arise out of the written exam results, and/or from particular information given by the applicant on his/her application. The set of interview questions should also include some to assess the applicant’s awareness and knowledge of community policing.
The Physical Fitness Test. I support the continued inclusion of a physical fitness test as part of the recruitment process. However, I believe that for new recruits it should be merely an assessment process that is taken into account along with other factors, and not used as a straightforward pass/fail measure. For example, an applicant who passes all other entry requirements “with flying colors” should not be rejected on the basis of a merely moderate result in the physical fitness test. My suggestion in this area would be that such a candidate could be offered a job but on the basis of undertaking a mandatory fitness program. Knowing that a number of our present serving officers would themselves not pass that same physical fitness test, I would further suggest annual physical fitness tests for them also, followed by participation in compulsory fitness programs should they fail that annual test.
Summary
I believe that our hiring process needs serious updating and revision if the Greenfield Police Department is to keep pace with modern police practices, especially in the area of community policing which is a primary objective for this department. Whilst the existing recruitment procedures contain most of the needed elements, I believe that the changes and improvements I have suggested here are badly needed. I also believe that if we are to be in the forefront with regard to community policing, we need to introduce training in that area, not just for new recruits but for all existing servicing officers in the department. Refer to Training on the police.com website for details of available free online training courses. Finally, I believe that all new recruits and serving officers should be included in mandatory training programs in the use of the latest police technology. Although there is a need for specialist and advanced training for those employed in specific roles, I am convinced that all officers should receive basic technology training in, so that every officer could step into another’s shoes if required.
References
Requirements to Become a Police Officer. (n.d.). Education-Portal.com. Retrieved from http://education-portal.com/requirements_to_become_a_police_officer.html
The Denver Police Department Written Test Study Guide. (n.d.). Law Enforcement Entrance Test. Police Jobs Info. Retrieved from http://www.denvergov.org/Portals/590/documents/Police%20study%20guide.pdf
Training. (n.d.). Policing.com. Retrieved from http://www.policing.com/training/index.html
