Police corruption is a growing ethical and occupational problem in many precincts and departments around the country. Despite this, effective pre-employment strategies designed to predict, explain, and prevent it are lacking. Police Corruption and Psychological Testing: A Strategy for Pre-employment Screening aims to fill this troubling gap in the academic and popular literature. Both original in its approach and integrative in its scope, this text is a useful, practical guide to understanding officer misconduct, pre-employment screening, and personality assessment. Relevant to the disciplines of criminal justice and psychology, this book can be used as a supplemental text in several undergraduate and graduate courses. Examples include criminal psychology, policing and society, criminal behavior, law enforcement administration, criminal justice policy, and profiling offenders. Robert P. Hanssen, subject of the movie Breach, is profiled in one chapter of this book. This book is part of the Criminal Justice and Psychology Series.
While some books about police psychology contain a chapter on the fitness-for-duty question, this is the first comprehensive publication focused exclusively on psychological fitness-for-duty evaluations (FFDEs) for law enforcement personnel. This handbook is ideal for professionals and for coursework designed to prepare individuals for careers as police or municipal officials, psychologists, students, behavioral science specialists, human rights advocates, and attorneys. A helpful glossary makes the book even more useful for students and those who do not have extensive academic or formal training in psychology or public administration. A Handbook for Psychological Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations in Law Enforcement describes in detail the mechanics of setting up a fitness-for-duty methodology and examines the effectiveness of FFDEs in law enforcement. You’ll find clear instructions for developing a FFDE system from the law enforcement executive’s viewpoint (valuable for attorneys, police psychologists, and civil service board members as well), and an extensive bibliography with particular emphasis on laws and cases that provide guidance to psychological and law enforcement professionals. Several appendices provide examples of documentation that can be used in the evaluation process. This book brings you reliable information on: legal precedents, with a review of legal cases (in language appropriate for law enforcement executives and psychologists) the interaction between police culture, psychological assessment, and therapy federal laws that impact FFDEs, including the HIPAA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act case law and FFDEs, with emphasis on civil rights laws, labor issues, professional ethical dilemmas, and the psychologist as a potential expert witness the proper uses—and the misuses—of the FFDE approach police departmental civil liability and the role that the FFDE plays in addressing legal risks In addition, this book contains a succinct review of psychological testing (psychometrics), and the technicalities of employing a professional psychologist to determine the fitness of commissioned officers. A Handbook for Psychological Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations in Law Enforcement proposes a model law that could be used to improve the utility and effectiveness of FFDEs, and presents a forward-looking discussion of FFDE issues that may become controversial in the near future.
In recent years, personality assessment by professional psychologists has taken on an increasingly important role in the field of police work. Most importantly, personality assessment instruments have been utilized in the pre-employment psychological screening of police officer candidates. This psychological screening takes place at the end of the hiring process to ensure that candidates do not have personality characteristics or existing psychopathology that would interfere with their job performance. Personality assessment is also used for other applications in police psychology. These applications include fitness-for-duty evaluations (FFDEs) and second opinion evaluations of officers who challenge hiring decisions. Moreover, police psychologists are involved in a considerable amount of research in order to determine which tests and scales are most appropriate for evaluations. The present volume is divided into four parts to cover the relevant issues in personality assessment for police work. Part I provides an introduction and the basic principles of personality assessment in police psychology. Part II focuses on the major assessment instruments used in police psychology. These include the MMPI-2, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) and Hilson Tests, the M-PULSE Inventory, pre-offer integrity instruments, and the Rorschach Comprehensive System. Part III examines multiple issues in personality assessment research in the field of police psychology. Part IV covers applications of personality assessment in police psychology. These applications include pre-employment evaluations, fitness for duty evaluations, conditional second opinion psychological evaluations of candidates, using multiple sources of information when conducting mandatory or required evaluations, and the politics of personality assessment in police agencies. This unique and comprehensive text is designed for psychologists who are actively working in the field of law enforcement, including psychologists in both applied and research/academic settings.
This Brief proposes a criminological typology for understanding and addressing police misconduct. Through examination of each major type of police misconduct, the author proposes future research directions to deter and prevent misconduct. According to an examination of 50 years of police misconduct cases within the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the author proposes 5 major typologies: police corruption, police criminality, excessive use of force, abuse of authority, and police misconduct. Through a systematic examination of each of these five types, the author aims to break down the nebulous topic of police misbehavior into manageable categories, with their own set of causes, and recommendations for detection and prevention. This work will be of interest for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with an interest in police studies, and related fields such as public policy and sociology. It will also be of interest for policymakers.
This book is the most comprehensive reference ever written for individuals interested in law enforcement selection. The chapters contain meta-analyses (statistical reviews of the literature) investigating the validity of methods used to predict police performance. These methods include education requirements, cognitive ability, background variables (e.g., military experience, arrest record, discipline problems at work), personality inventories, interest inventories, physical agility tests, assessment centers, and interviews. The first chapter in the book is a short primer on meta-analysis that informs the reader about the purpose of meta-analysis and how to interpret the meta-analysis tables contained in the book. Chapter 2 describes the methods used to conduct the meta-analyses for this project. Chapters 3-11 list the meta-analysis results for the various predictors of police performance. Chapter 12 describes a meta-analysis of the relationships among criteria (e.g., performance ratings, discipline problems, commendations), Chapter 13 describes a meta-analysis of the relationships among selection methods, and Chapter 14 describes a meta-analysis of the relationship between the various criteria and sex, race, age, and tenure. Chapter 15 summarizes the previous chapters and identifies future research needs.
Forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) has grown into a specialization informed by research and professional guidelines. This series presents up-to-date information on the most important and frequently conducted forms of FMHA. The 20 topical volumes address best approaches to practice for particular types of evaluation in the criminal, civil and juvenile/family areas. Each volume contains a thorough discussion of the relevant legal and psychological concepts, followed by a step-by-step description of the assessment process from preparing for the evaluation to writing the report and testifying in court. Volumes include the following helpful features: - Boxes that zero in on important information for use in evaluations - Tips for best practice and cautions against common pitfalls - Highlighting of relevant case law and statutes - Separate list of assessment tools for easy reference - Helpful glossary of key terms for the particular topic In making recommendations for best practice, authors consider empirical support, legal relevance, and consistency with ethical and professional standards. These volumes offer invaluable guidance for anyone involved in conducting or using forensic evaluations. A majority of police departments across the country conduct psychological evaluations of their police applicants and many also conduct periodic evaluations of incumbent police officers. With a small percentage of psychologists conducting these evaluations, and an even smaller number who have passed through board certification in forensic psychology or police and public safety psychology, there is a pressing need for education and training resources for practitioners seeking to develop competency in this area of practice. Evaluations of Police Suitability and Fitness for Duty, fills a gap in the literature, and explains the legal, procedural, ethical, and clinical foundations for these types of evaluations untethered to any single assessment instrument. Throughout the text, authors David M. Corey and Mark Zelig distinguish between enforceable, standards-based requirements and aspirational best practices. The book starts with a review of the most prominent federal laws and regulations, professional practice guidelines, and ethical standards pertinent to these evaluations. From there, applied chapters provide detailed procedural guidance, including advice for obtaining informed consent, providing disclosure to the involved parties, conducting clinical and collateral interviews, selecting written assessment instruments, integrating assessment findings to reach determinations of suitability and fitness, and preparing written reports and testimony for various audiences and uses.
This book analyses police corruption across four country case studies, exploring how the problem manifests in each country and how it can be reduced. The problem of police corruption ranges from having to pay a bribe to a traffic cop to avoid a speeding fine, right up to more serious forms, such as collusion with organised crime groups and terrorists. The issue therefore constitutes a significant security threat and a human rights issue, but it is often difficult to understand the extent of the problem, and how it varies across contexts. This book analyses the corruption situation in Bulgaria, Germany, Russia and Singapore, identifies similarities and differences across them, and analyses the various means of addressing the problem: punitive, incentivising, technological, administrative and imaging, and the role of civil society. Drawing on existing literature and research, the book also makes extensive use of local sources and original survey data across the four countries. As comparative literature on police corruption remains rare, this book’s survey of the situation in two developed states and two post-communist transition states will be of considerable interest to students and researchers across corruption studies, criminology, police studies and security studies, as well as practitioners working in anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies.
Psychological Testing in Everyday Life explores how psychological testing is used in real-life settings to make the study of psychometrics interesting, relevant, and highly accessible. Author Karen B. Goldfinger examines a broad range of carefully selected topics to capture student interest, encourage critical thinking, and spark class discussions. Organized in the form of an applied casebook, each chapter presents the complex issues that arise when using psychological tests in a variety of settings, providing an in-depth view of psychological testing practices, historically and in the present. This unique text will support students in becoming thoughtful, informed consumers and providers of psychological assessment.
