NCJ Number
180947
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 29 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 1999 Pages: 71-94
Date Published
1999
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study re-scores pre-service tests completed by applicants for appointment to a police department and relates the scores to police performance over a decade.
Abstract
The study re-scored Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) answer sheets completed a decade earlier by applicants for appointment to a medium-sized municipal police department and related the newly calculated scores on the original clinical scales and on 22 derivative scales to a positive and to a negative index of performance, respectively, over the span of a decade of service. No significant bivariate relationships were found through rectilinear correlation between the positive performance index (cumulative number of formal, written commendations) and scores on any of the newly scored derivative scales. Significant bivariate relationships were found between the negative performance index (cumulative number of formal reprimands) and scores on two of the newly scored derivative scales. The article urges police departments to make use of the full range of data available from the MMPI in their candidate assessments. It describes as “myopically indefensible” assessments based on only 10 of 145 scales, especially in an era of sophisticated computerized scoring and scoring services. Tables, note, references