NCJ Number
231940
Date Published
2010
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses the scientific foundation and professional issues regarding pre-offer police integrity testing.
Abstract
This chapter examines pre-employment assessments for police applicants and how these assessments answer three main questions: which individual qualities are most important to be an effective police officer; which individual qualities should the applicant posses prior to pre-employment selection; and of the qualities a police officer should possess, which can be assessed prior to a conditional offer of employment. In this chapter, pre-employment integrity tests were compared to Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality assessments as potential tools for use in police officer applicant screening. The analysis indicates that pre-employment integrity tests are more successful than FFM measures of conscientiousness in five areas: 1) job relevancy - while FFM assessments would document the importance of integrity and police officer honesty, few police departments use targeted pre-employment integrity tests; 2) validity - FFM measures do not predict employee theft to the degree and magnitude of integrity tests; 3) risk exposure - integrity tests reduce the misconception that police officer candidates do not need to be screened for integrity attitudes; 4) Americans with Disabilities Act compliance - there is greater risk that inappropriate and medically-oriented test items will be included in FFM assessments than in integrity tests; and 5) non-invasiveness - integrity tests are less invasive in terms of measuring clinical/medical issues and general personality traits. Tables, figure, and references