Abstract
The
social contract dictates that because people choose to live in a
civil society bound by rules to protect themselves and the safety of
those around them, they are to sacrifice some of their own liberties
in exchange for protection from the harsh and unrelenting outside
world (Friend, 2004). If there is no one to enforce the rules, there
is no civil society. This is why the selection of those who will
uphold the law is vital – these individuals are given an incredible
amount of authority while still maintaining their roles as public
servants. They walk a fine line of performing justice or negating the
social contract.
Brief
History
There have been many different incarnations of a police officer's
role ranging from the frankpledge system in England during the Middle
Ages, where tythings would work together to enforce the law in their
communities . Throughout the ages, law enforcement became more
specialized. When the colonies were founded, the policing systems
from England carried over to the New World. When the dust settled
after the American Revolution, policing changed as well (“The
History”, 2013).
During
the early 1800's to the 1970's, police were seen as an extension of
whoever was in political power. This was known as The Political
Model – police had a tremendous amount of discretion and were
highly decentralized. They were in the pockets of local politicians
and rife with corruption due to the fact that the officer's main
goals were not maintaining order, but to enforce the political agenda
of whomever was in office. Enforcement standards differed from city
to city, however this allowed for law enforcement officers to be more
personable with the citizenry due to their close ties. This allowed
for police also have a community oriented persona (Roberg et al,
2002).
The
next evolution in policing was The Reform Model, where police became
more centralized and bureaucratic. This was a large move away from
political influence and the use of standards for law enforcement
became heavily implemented. This move emphasized the “crime
fighting” aspect of policing, while reemphasizing the role of
police officers as public servants. Arrest rates, response rates, and
crime rates were all utilized to determine the effectiveness of
police. Many felt this separated police from the community who came
to view law enforcement officers as adversaries (Robert et al, 2002).
With
the advent of The Service Model, three areas of policing came into
focus – policy development, selection/training, and management.
Policies were created that dictated discretion in situations where
force was used by focusing on training and guidelines. Selection
became a more job related and not capricious. More minorities and
women were hired. Training programs focused more on community-centric
policing and human relations. Also, there was more of a focus on
educational background in the selection of police candidates. New
organizational and management programs were implemented including
community relations programs, team policing, and crime prevention
programs (Roberg et al, 2002).
Further
evolution brings about the Community-Policing Model. This model
focuses on community relations, especially with minority groups,
police evaluations, implementing policy based on research, and crime
response. Overall, there has been a paradigm shift back to police
becoming public servants again, while utilizing new resources to
create better and more efficient police departments (Roberg et al,
2002). Using these new resources and new concepts requires better
selection and training of new officers, as well as retraining veteran
officers to conform to the new set of standards.
Generalized
Selection and Hiring Processing
Because
of the shift back to a more community-centric police officer, and
avoiding the mistakes of older policing models, many police
departments are starting to implement quality control measures even
before considering any candidates.
Getting
the Word Out
The
crux of the recruitment process is attracting “quality”
candidates. This includes advertisements in the classified section of
the newspaper, internet, radio, etc. Police departments will also use
job fairs and travel to college campuses to recruit students nearing
graduation (Roberg et al, 2002). Once such recent job fair took place
in DeKalb County, Georgia earlier this month where 80 positions were
advertised with qualifications including:
- 20 years of age
- U.S. Citizen
- No felony or domestic violence charges in the past
- High School Diploma/GED
- Valid Drivers License (Banks, 2013).
Compared
to other police departments hiring requirements, these seem lax. For
instance, a job posting from the Louisville Police Department in
Kentucky lists more stringent application requirements including
physical requirements like “Lifts
and carries items weighing in excess of 100 pounds in a team setting”
and “Must be vaccinated for hepatitis B, have provided evidence of
immunity, or have signed a declination form within ten days of
initial assignment.” Other requirements are listed such as “Must
not have an accumulation of nine or more points for traffic
violations”, “Must be eligible for certification as a State Peace
Officer”, and “Within the last 2 years must not have conducted
the business of a private detective agency or any agency supporting
private detectives, private policeman or private guards/advertised or
solicited any such business in connection with any labor dispute”
(“Police Recruit”, 2013).
As
pointed out, each department has its own standards for advertizing an
available position as a police recruit. Another method of recruiting
includes having officers, on paid time, travel to different
communities, or even to different states to recruit potential
candidates (Roberg et al, 2002.
Also,
police develop recruitment strategies to target specific types of
people they feel would fill a niche in their police department –
women and minorities. One way to target females to apply for the job
is to describe the community centric and caring aspect of the
position; they lessen the “crime fighting” aspect of the job.
Three of the most common minority groups targeted for recruiting are
Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. For each type of applicant, police
departments tailor the way the advertize to them. For Blacks, police
departments emphasize the ever-changing nature of the job as well as
the public service and responsibility aspect. For Hispanics, police
departments emphasize pay, responsibility, and the public service
aspect of the job. For Asians, responsibility and variety are
highlighted (Roberg et al, 2002). Overall, police departments try to
use recruitment tactics to select the best, brightest, and most
qualified applicants depending on the needs of the community and the
needs of the department itself.
Screening
Potential Candidates
After
a pool of candidates are selected, the police department then
whittles down candidates through a series of tests and measurements
including physical fitness tests, examining the candidate's
educational background, psychological screening, polygraph tests, and
other qualifiers.
When
conducting these types of examinations, validity and reliability are
key. The tests need to be capable in demonstrating the quality of the
candidate (Roberg et al, 2002). The measures need to be equal and
static for everyone. For instance, on a physical fitness test,
everyone needs to perform to a certain standard regardless of age,
gender, race, weight, and how physically fit the candidates are. A
standardized bar needs to be set – some people may go above and
beyond the set measure, some people may barely cross it, and some may
not cross it at all. This should be the same for all aspects of the
screening process – it should be objective and based purely on the
quality of the individual in that specific type of examination.
There
are several types of behaviors that agencies do not want to have in
their new recruits. These traits include tardiness or absenteeism.
These behaviors cost departments money in overtime pay and create a
distrustful and resentful atmosphere among the officers. Another main
issue departments try to weed out is past disciplinary actions.
Obviously, if an officer is troublesome it also creates a bad
atmosphere among officers as well. These types of behaviors also cost
the department time and money in reprimanding and retraining a
troublesome employee and it also adds to public distrust – law
enforcement is one of the few types of employment where force and
authority used upon the public is acceptable. The people who are
hired into this position need to be fully qualified for the position
and able to perform the duties they are assigned (Cochrane et al,
2008).
What
is considered the most important part of whittling down potential
police recruits is the background examination. A large portion of the
candidate's background is provided by the candidate. Also, other
information checked can include criminal background, credit, family
background, employment, personal references (friends, neighbors,
family, coworkers), and military records, if applicable. The examiner
determines from the information they are given if the candidate would
be a good match (Roberg et al, 2002). The main way this information
is gathered is by getting a signed and notarized waiver to
investigate every aspect of the candidate's background. Although
officers can correspond with the personal references via mail or
phone, the most reliable way is to knock someone's door. Also, it is
recommended the background investigator also try to find other
references through the references the candidate provided. Generally,
the candidate provided these references because they will have
positive things to say about the candidate, and a deeper look is
required to acquire a better idea of the candidate's personality
(Bushman, 2004). This method has been considered the most reliable
method for determining a good candidate.
Psychological
evaluations are used as a measure police departments use to determine
the quality of a candidate. The examination may be given as either a
verbal or written examination or both. The purpose of this type of
exam is to determine if an individual is psychological “cut out”
to be a police officer. Also, the test screens out applicants who may
be mentally unstable or unfit. Although critics suggest this type of
evaluation may be too subjective, it is still utilized by police
departments around the country because it has been shown to sift out
candidates who not only are mentally or emotionally unfit for the
position but also may have a mental disorder (Roberg et al, 2002) The
main psychological examinations used are MMPI, California
Psychological Inventory (CPI), Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire (16PF), Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, and the
Inwald Personality Inventory. Is debatable as to which instrument
determines the best results, however every police department that
utilizes psychological exams, uses one of these types of test. There
are two ways police agencies utilize the results of these exams – a
pass/fail system, or weighted against other selection criteria. In
one study, the majority (68.1%) of the agencies who provided data
considered it a pass/fail examination. The rest (31.9%) considered it
weighted (Cochrane et al, 2008)
Another
measure police departments use to whittle down potential candidates
is a polygraph examination, more commonly known by its misnomer, a
lie detector test. Agencies utilize this too to see if candidates
have had illegal or inappropriate behavior in the past, including
drug use and criminal activity (Roberg et al, 2002). A polygraph
examination does not measure a person's veracity; it measures their
stress reactions when being questioned, including heart rate, blood
pressure, respiration, and skin conductivity. The test is conducted
by instructing and explaining the “gravity” of the examination
including the types of questions to induce the candidate's concern
about their honesty. Also, “control” questions are used during
the examination to measure the candidates honesty and also increase
their concern about being deceptive (“The Truth”, 2004).
Physical
fitness is another criteria that is considered when hiring potential
police officers. Considering law enforcement officers are constantly
in the field, are required to run after or apprehend a person, they
need to be physically capable of doing so. Many police departments
require an applicant to be at least 21 years; some may consider as
young as 18, but they may be considered “too immature” and are
assigned to community centric duties. However, the main concern has
not been too young an applicant is, but how old. Most departments
generally do not hire officers over the age of 38, but have
reconsidered due to policy. Also, one of the most important parts of
the physical fitness examination is physical strength and agility.
Mostly the tests center on activities police officers will be doing
routinely. There are also other health measures such as
cardiovascular health, flexibility, strength. These tests are
standardized and differentiated between age and gender (Roberg,
2002).
Lastly,
education is another large contender when law enforcement agencies
consider hiring on a new candidate. Since the 1970's there has been a
movement across college campuses to include Criminology and Criminal
Justice programs to encourage education among current and potential
officers. Also, with the increase in technology and complexities of
the legal system, having an education is extremely helpful to
officers (Decker & Huckabee, 2002). It has been affirmed that
officers with a higher level of education are more even keeled and
are able to utilize the complex problem solving skills they learned
in college. However, an educational requirement, other than a GED or
high school diploma, is not required by most agencies and only a
quarter of officers have any kind of post secondary degree (Roberg et
al, 2002).
It
is feared that an educational requirement will racially discriminate
against Blacks and Hispanics, however this has been disproven. Many
agencies are moving to have an educational requirement put into place
because they feel the more educated their officers are, the more
organic the department is – officers are less authoritative, had a
greater acceptance of different people and cultures, and better
acclimatized them to community policing roles. Also, having a college
education increases chances of moving upward in a department (Roberg
et al, 2002).
Ethical
Issues Concerning the Hiring Process
There
has been a concerning issue with a dearth of qualified candidates. In
spite of the recession and an increase of job applicants, there have
been issues finding properly qualified candidates. This has led to
some agencies to lower the bar to attract more candidates. For
example, consider the requirements listed for DeKalb County Georgia
and the ones listed for Louisville, Kentucky. More applicants would
respond to the DeKalb County advertisement than for the Louisville
advertisement based on the lessened criteria. DeKalb County would
have a larger task screening proper applicants, than Louisville would
because of the criteria, but this becomes a quality versus quantity
issue. Also, another factor is police departments trying to diversify
their force, but lowering the standards for more “ethnically
diverse” applicants.
There
have been many criticisms of the selection process of candidates for
law enforcement positions. The main factor is bias. Many argue these
test discriminate against potential candidates that may be more
qualified than other candidates. Some of these issues encompass every
aspect of the process from advertizing to physical and mental health.
It has become a balancing act between whether these measures are
necessary to how necessary and important they are.
Because
of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, police have had to
consider candidates over the age of 40. Also, police department have
imposed height and weight limits in the past, however that has been
found to discriminate against women, who are typically shorter than
men. Also, when it comes to physical fitness and agility, the tests
were found to be discriminatory because not all tests were “job
related”. Now most of the physical fitness tests revolve around
“job related” tasks like dragging a body, climbing fences,
sprints, etc (Roberg et al, 2002) Another issue with the age of a
candidate, is that police departments are starting to consider
officers who are “older” to ensure they are selecting more
quality officers. Many are concerned these age requirements will hurt
the chances of minorities and women being hired.
Another
issue seen in hiring practices concerns people with disabilities –
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, “no
qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such
disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the
benefits of services, programs, or activities of a public entity”.
Because working as a police officer is considered a “public
entity”, candidates are given a conditional offer of employment
before a medical exam and examiners who perform a background screen
or a psychological examination are prohibited from asking questions
that could disclose a disability – it would be considered
discriminatory
(Roberg et al, 2002).
Another
hot point is education. Although many agencies do not have an
educational requirement, it is highly encourage that higher education
be obtained for the purposes of moving up in the agency. In addition,
there has been an argument against educational requirements because
studies show that the level of job dissatisfaction increases
concurrently with the level of education and the years with the
police department. This could create burn-out and turn over (Decker &
Huckabee, 2002).
There
has been speculation that the psychological examination is biased
based on race and that it does not sift out differences between
officers who under-perform or over-perform. Also, it has been
suggested the psychological examination be removed completely –
there are better behavioral indicators such as the background check,
which shows past actions (Roberg et al, 2002). However, the main
argument for having a psychological assessment is purely financial.
For instance, the Los Angeles police department spends, on average,
$100,000 training one new recruit. This includes 1,000 hours of
training. If the officer is found to not be a proper “fit” for
the job, the city is out nearly $100,000. Simply put, some agencies
cannot afford not to thoroughly screen their potential employees
(Cochrane et al, 2008)
Also,
another criticism of psychological examinations are the different
types of tests used and how the results are interpreted – cut off
scores on standardized tests and the use of norms. Also, the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission suggests that some of the questions
used in the psychological examination may be discriminatory based on
gender and/or race (Cochrane et al, 2008).
Another
method used in the selection process having been criticized is the
polygraph test. Many feel this is an unreliable measure because of
the stress-load on a candidate and how it may effect their answers –
false positives (Roberg et al, 2002). Another concern among the
psychological community is the fact they have not been able to
separate “placebo-like effects”. It has been surmised polygraph
examinations seem to work because of the anxiety of being subject to
a “lie detector test” will cause the person being tested to
confess anyway (“The Truth”, 2004). Also, when concerning testing
for police officer candidates, the questions have been described as
unethical or discriminatory, including questions about an applicant's
sexual background and/or lifestyle (Roberg et al, 2002).
The
last issue, which encompasses all of the issues, is diversifying –
adding more qualified women and minorities to the police force. Many
feel there are pitfalls in the recruitment and hiring system for
minorities and women. These can range from advertisements, to the
educational requirement, physical fitness, psychological tests, etc.
Decker and Huckabee suggest that by increasing educational standards,
this could discourage minorities and women from applying for
positions.
Under
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based upon
ethnicity, gender, nationality, and religion. The Act was amended in
1972 to create the Equal Employment Opportunity Act which states “It
shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or
refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to
discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation,
terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such
individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Because of this act, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate
based on the aforementioned criteria. However, because of the heavy
screening for a job as a police officer, critics argue that it does
cause discrimination and standards should be lowered to allow the
hiring of more minorities (Roberg et al, 2002).
Diversifying
a police department has been shown to make a police department more
effective in its work ethic and with community relations. It has been
shown that officers who are part of a minority group are easier to
trust and empathize with when dealing with minority groups in the
community, and vise versa. But, this is only testimonial evidence.
There is no empirical evidence to demonstrate a positive or negative
affect on focusing on having minority officers in the department
(Roberg et al, 2002).
However,
even with the lack of empirical evidence, police departments still
specifically target minority groups as potential candidates. This
includes lowering standards that are in place to determine whether or
not a candidate is qualified to even perform the job. Some police
departments were under court order, under affirmative action plans,
to increase the number of women and minorities in the department,
under the notion that the dominant demographic represented was white
male. This led to certain allowances for individuals who were from a
minority group (Roberg et al, 2002).
A
recent court case, Ricci v. DeStefano, discussed racial bias in the
hiring of individuals for a public service job. In the case, the fire
department held an objective standardized examination for candidates
considered for a management positions. The results showed the white
and hispanic candidates performed better than the minority
candidates. Because of the uproar it caused, the results were thrown
out and nobody was promoted. The white and Hispanic candidates who
were denied the promotion even though they were qualified for it
filed civil charges against the city under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. In this case, the Supreme Court held “before
an employer can engage in intentional discrimination for the asserted
purpose of avoiding or remedying an unintentional, disparate impact,
the employer must have a strong basis in evidence to believe it will
be subject to disparate-impact liability if it fails to take the
race-conscious, discriminatory action.”
It
is not that one person is better or more qualified because of their
ethnic background, age, or gender, or any myriad of other qualifiers,
it is simply put that the selection of law enforcement officers –
people entrusted to uphold the social contract and are legally
allowed to use force another individual – should be held to the
highest standard.
In
sum – the overarching ethical issue with the selection and hiring
of officers is bias, whether it is physical, mental, racial,
educational, etc. It begs the question if it is all necessary to
recruit and hire the most qualified candidates for this job, keeping
in mind that these individuals, these officers are placed in a
position of trust and authority and can use force against people.
Ethical
Systems
Ethical
systems are defined as “a structured set of principles that defines
what is moral” (Pollock, 2012). These types of systems are the
basis of moral beliefs and decision making. Utilizing these systems
will aid an individual in deciding the right and moral way of
approaching the ethical implications of an issue. In the case of bias
in the hiring of police officers, there are several different types
of ethical systems that can explain the moral significance of this
issue (Pollock, 2012).
Teleological
Ethical System
A
teleological ethical system focuses on the consequences of an action
to determine the morality of an action – do the ends justify the
means? The main vehicle of this system is utilitarianism, which main
focus is the goodness of the act and how it affects the overall
goodness in terms of consequences.
There
are two types of utilitarianism – act and rule utilitarianism
(Pollock, 2012).
Under
act utilitarianism, it is the single incident that is being judged
for morality. When considering the hiring of police officers, it is
good to attract as many candidates as possible in order to find the
best one. It is good to have high standards in place considering the
nature of the job. And, it is good to encourage different people with
different qualifications to apply for a position with a law
enforcement agency – it allows for the agency to become more
dynamic. The act in itself is good and moral. However, under
utilitarianism, an act may be considered “good”, even if it was a
“bad” act, if the consequences are perceived as “good”
(Pollock, 2012). For instance, take a department who is court ordered
to hire more minorities. They may have to lower the standards to hire
these individuals, which appeases the order. Therefore, it is good.
But, under rule utilitarianism, this act would be wrong.
Rule
utilitarianism determines the “goodness” of an act if it is made
into a rule or standard (Pollock, 2012). If preference was given to
all minority candidates in order to hire more of them on, this act
would be “bad” because it lowers the standards of the individuals
hired on. As mentioned before, a law enforcement officer has a
uniquely stressful job in that they are held to higher standard,
placed in a position of authority, and are allowed to use force. If a
candidate who is of a minority background is hired just because they
are of a minority background does not mean that they are qualified
for the position.
Critics
argue that utilitarianism is very uncaring and objective. Bentham,
the main proponent of this ethical system, did not weigh the moral
significance of an act – just whether or not the action was good or
bad. Also, critics point out that the rights of one may be sacrificed
for the good of the many (Pollock, 2012). In this case, because the
issue at hand deals with individual rights, a deontological ethical
system can also be used to weigh the situation.
Deontological
Ethical System
Deontological
systems focus on the morality of the actor's intent. If a person's
intent was good, even if the consequences were bad, the act is still
good. The main vehicle for a deontological ethical system is ethical
formalism – proposed by Immanuel Kant and focuses solely on the
actor's good will (Pollock, 2012).
In
the case of recruitment and hiring of candidates for a law
enforcement position, the actor or actors (the person or group
responsible for determining the hiring criteria) would be in the
right. They are using their best judgment and good will to hire a
candidate that they feels best fits the position based on the
qualifications of that candidate whether they be subjective or
objective. If the department has to lower the standards to allow for
the hiring of minority candidates, this is still considered a good
act because the will of the actor is good, regardless if an under
qualified candidate is hired. However, under this ethical system
there are other factors at play.
The
two main imperatives involved in ethical formalism are categorical
imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. A categorical imperative
describes an action that is simply necessary regardless of outside
factors. A hypothetical imperative is an if-then statement (Pollock
2012).
Using
the categorical imperative the actor in this situation would be bound
by duty – to hire quality candidates to fill a the position of a
law enforcement officer position. They have to find the best
candidate for the position, regardless of any auxiliary conditions.
In the case presented, if the individual or group responsible for
screening candidates is remiss in their duty and hires someone who is
not qualified, the have done wrong. A categorical imperative is
similar to rule utilitarianism in that it is not a short term issue.
Conversely,
using a hypothetical imperative, their actions would be justifiable –
the ends justify the means. Where a categorical imperative is
stricter, the hypothetical imperative allows for desires; the actor
is not bound by duty. If the desires of the actor are of good will
the action is good (Pollock, 2012). Considering the issue at hand,
the act would be considered “good”. The actor has the best intent
in hiring minority candidates regardless of whether the applicant is
qualified for the position because of the actor's desires and will
being good, despite the consequences.
This
ethical system is also limited in certain ways – the actor is bound
by duty, regardless of what type of duty. For instance, take a
prosecutor, whose job is to prove a person is guilty of a crime
regardless of whether or not the person committed a crime. Also, this
system does not take into account consequences of actions. With the
issue of recruitment and selection of candidates for a law
enforcement position, only the selection process is considered... not
the consequences (Pollock, 2012).
Policy
and Implications
Ultimately,
the largest policy implication is the way in which police officers
are recruited, selected, and hired and how the quality of the
candidate affects the police department and the community as a whole.
The
selection and training of police officers is one of the keys to
eliminating police misconduct. Police misconduct comes in many
different forms – accepting gratuities, excessive use of force,
obstruction of justice, off duty illegal activities, and
administrative failures. Gratuities include anything from buying an
officer's lunch simply because they are an officer, and there is no
personal relationship, down to bribery (or payment to cover up a
crime). Excessive use of force is when a police officer oversteps
their bounds. This occurs when something as simple a shove to a more
extreme example of using lethal force in a situation that did not
require it (Pollock, 2012).
A
recent case of excessive use of force revolves around a patrol
officer in Seattle, Washington who was suspended for eight days
resulting in excessive use of force. This resulted from an incident
in June where the officer, Eric Faust, had arrested an individual who
was being uncooperative. The man was not guilty of any type of crime
and was pulled over on a routine traffic stop (Miletich, 2013). Even
though this was a minor issue, these types of incidents occur all the
time.
Two
other large issues plaguing law enforcement agencies are drugs and
money, which often go hand in hand. There are some incidents, like
Leo Liston, a now ex-officer in St. Louis, Missouri, who was
sentenced to three months in prison for stealing $8,000 in cash
during a drug bust. Or, Two officers, in Robeson County, North
Carolina, who were indicted on embezzlement charges (Pollock, 2012).
These
incidents can be curtailed by selection and training. There are tests
and measures in place to ensure the best candidates for the position
are selected. To subvert these measures can lead to incidents like
those mentioned above.
In
addition to hiring qualified officers, these officers must be trained
to handle uniquely stressful or tempting situations. For instance,
accepting gratuities needs to be emphasized as wrong and against
policy with a deterring factor. Something as simple as accepting a
free lunch solely because of being a law enforcement officer can lead
to greater issues like the infamous police corruption that ran
rampant in New York City during the 1980's. A ring of officers in the
NYPD, dubbed the “Buddy Boys” were engaging in activities ranging
from transporting firearms, drug use, bribery, drug sales, and armed
robbery (Pollock, 2012). Training officers, and ensuring those who
are being trained are the best and most qualified candidates before
they are even hire, is one of the best ways to stop incidents like
this from occurring.
When
it comes to misconduct, Pollock mentions research data that shows
different demographics for officers who are more likely to commit
misconduct. The data demonstrated that the group least likely to be
disciplined for misconduct is women, depending on the police culture
of the department. However, females were more likely to be terminated
during probationary periods and terminated for off-duty illegal
activities. Male officers are more likely to be terminated due to
excessive use of force and brutality. Research also shows that
college educated officers received less citizen complaints and also
terminated less for misconduct. Black officers were shown to be
disciplined more for misconduct, over any other minority, due to drug
test failures and off duty criminal activity.
Also,
instead of hiring an individual simply because they are of a minority
group, who may be under qualified, in order to better community
relations, train the officers to utilize more community-centric
police tactics. As mentioned before, Los Angeles spend a great deal
of money training a new officer. It would be more economical to train
the existing officers to have better community relations skills,
instead of hiring an individual who was held to lower standards
because of political correctness.
Overall,
from the research Pollock presented, higher educational standards,
regardless of ethnicity or gender, as well as length of service, and
older candidates demonstrated the best indicator for not being
disciplined for misconduct. When discussing the hiring of officers,
educational background, as well as the already prominent background
check should be the two largest items considered when considering a
candidate.
Conclusion
Each
police department has its own qualifiers for selecting a candidate.
They weigh out the results of the examination tools they feel best
suit their needs and the needs of the community whether it is
education, physical fitness, polygraph test, the background check or
any other determining factors including ethnicity, gender, or age.
Each candidate must meet the agency's particular criteria in order to
even be considered for hire. There are many different factors,
opinions, and even laws that determine who can be “weeded out”
for the position.
Until
there is more and better research in determining which candidates are
best suited for the position of a law enforcement officer, the
agencies and departments have to use ethical systems such as
utilitarianism and ethical formalism to determine whether or not they
are doing the right thing by hiring a particular candidate.
Works
Cited:
Americans
With Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, § 1, 104 Stat.
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S. (2004, November). Police
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women and minority candidates be excluded?.
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Equal
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Police
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(2013, September 20). Retrieved from
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