1. Police in America
Chapter Five
Police Officers I:
Entering Police
Work
McGraw-Hill
© 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

2. The Changing American Police
Officer



More female, African American, Hispanic
officers compared to 40 years ago
Many college educated or hold masters’
degrees
Openly gay and lesbian officers
5-2

3. Aspects of the Personnel Process
 A Career Perspective
 Many departments have personnel problems
because:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Don’t train recruits properly
Don’t supervise officer adequately
Poor evaluation systems
Failure to discipline
Failure to provide career opportunities
Don’t promote the best officers
5-3

4. Beyond Stereotypes of Cops
 Stereotypes can be either positive or
negative
 Positive: Heroic saints, risking their lives
 Negative: Uneducated, untrained, prejudiced,
brutal or corrupt
 These stereotypes can discourage women
from becoming police officers
5-4

5. The Personnel Process: A Shared
Responsibility
 Shared with other governmental agencies
(civil service system)
 Attracting a pool of applicants:



Minimum qualifications
The recruitment effort
Applicant’s motivations to apply
5-5

6. Recruitment

Minimum Qualifications



Most departments - 21 years of age
Height and Weight
Education
• 82% high school diploma
• Educational incentive pay

Criminal record
 No felony—Drug offenses major problem
 Misdemeanor?

Residency
 About 25% of departments require living within
the city limits
5-6

7. Choosing Law Enforcement as a
Career
 Applicants motivations





Help people
Job security
Fight crime
Excitement
Prestige
 Barriers to recruitment
 Negative image of officers
 Traditionally male occupations
5-7

8. Selecting Officers from the Recruit
Pool
 Selection tests
 Oral interviews
 Written and medical exams
 Background Investigations
 Previous employment, possible criminal
record, interviews with neighbors
 Educational background, financial status,
home visit
5-8

9. Screening Methods Used by Local
Police Depts. (2003)
Method










Personal interview
Criminal record check
Background investigation
Driving record check
Medical exam
Psychological screen
Drug test
Written aptitude test
Physical agility test
Polygraph exam
% Dept Using
99
100
99
99
89
72
83
48
60
26
5-9

10. Predicting Police Officer
Performance
 The difficulty of predicting good police
performance:
 Screening Methods
 Measuring Police Performance
 Screening Efforts vs. Actual Job Performance
5-10

11. Equal Employment Opportunity

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
 Race, color, religion, sex, or national
origin
 Protected class

1972 Equal Employment
Opportunity Act

1990 Americans With Disabilities
Act
Bona Fide Occupational
Qualification

5-11

12. “Not Your Father’s Police
Department”: Diversity in Policing

Employment of Racial
and Ethnic Minorities

 More seriously
underrepresented than
racial or ethnic minorities
 Concentrated in lower
ranks
 Reflect the composition of
the community it serves

Hispanic and Latino
officers
 Fastest growing population
 Spanish-speaking officers
recruited
Women

Gay and Lesbian officers
 Increasingly open over the
last 20 years
 African American Officers
 Previously underrepresented in the police force
 Employment discrimination litigation has helped to increase
number of African American officers in the police force
5-12

13. Achieving Diversity in Police
Employment


U.S. Supreme Court held that diversity is a
“compelling state of interest”
Three basic goals






Ensure employer is not discriminating
Improve police service
Improve image of police department
Employment Discrimination Suits
Controversy over affirmative action
The question of quotas
 Reverse discrimination
5-13

14. The Police Academy

Provides formal training
 Pre-service training

Process for weeding out unqualified
recruits
 Field training
Rite of passage that socializes recruits
 State training and certification

5-14

15. Training
Average number of hours
1,000,000

Police Academy
 Big departments
have own academy
 Small departments
use state-run
academies

Field training
 FTO program
 2/3 of departments
use this process
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
500,000999,999
250,000499,999
100,000249,999
50,00099,999
25,00049,999
10,00024,999
2,5009,999
under
2,500
5-15

16. State Training and Certification




Every state has some form of mandated pre-service
training for certification
State-required content of training
Decertification
Shortcomings of current police training:
 Don’t cover important subjects like discretion and
ethics
 Pre-service training not adequate
 Classroom training alone is not adequate
5-16

17. The Probationary Period
 Can range to six months to two years after
being sworn in as an officer
 Officer can be dismissed without cause
during this period
 Rules for this process determined by local
civil service regulations
 Average of 7 percent of all recruits
dismissed during this period
5-17