ABSTRACT
The police manager's ability to manage liability is the direct result of his or her knowledge of the accepted standards and the initiation of liability protection programs in the police department. Accreditation exists to make its standards available to the police agencies that want them. The police manager must relinquish varying degrees of autonomy and power, especially as it relates to recruitment, selection, and promotion of personnel, to strive for fair and equitable personnel and disciplinary systems. Lawsuits resulting from police misconduct fall into two major categories: civil rights violations, and negligent employment and supervision. One of the surest ways of reducing the potential for lawsuits is to staff the police department with the best people possible. A systematic approach to selection and training starts with the assumption that, for the most part, the selection and training process goes on at each of the following six steps or phases: recruitment, initial selection, psychological evaluation, academy training, field training, and probation.
