The Police College has two main curricula: a 4-year study (for the best students) for the title and profession of "bachelor of criminalists" and a five-semester study for becoming a "criminalist." Since 1990, the Police College has used a complex entrance examination for the selection of a large number of candidates, so as to select those persons most likely to succeed in the College curriculum. This examination contains several tests of knowledge, personality questionnaires, and one test of nonverbal intelligence (test of logical comprehension of successive elements), a test of psychomotor abilities, and an evaluation of performance in secondary school. The study designed to test the validity of the entrance exam involved 110 regular first-year students chosen at random. Seventy-nine students entered the College as civilians and 31 as police officers. The students were retested at the end of the first school year with several questionnaires. Apparently the score on the knowledge test in the entrance exam could be predictive of student performance during the first year. For the civilian students, the total score on the entrance examination, as well as success in secondary school also had predictive values. Although these findings are encouraging, they are only preliminary, since all students were not included, and the school year is not officially over. Also, student success in succeeding years must be considered. 6 tables and 3 notes
Selection of Students for the Study of Police Criminalistics (From Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Comparing Firsthand Knowledge With Experience From the West, P 435-443, 1996, Milan Pagon, ed. -- See NCJ-170291)
NCJ Number
170330
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study tested the effectiveness of Croatia's entrance exam for its Police College in identifying those students most likely to perform well in the College.
Abstract