ABSTRACT
The pre-employment screening process has numerous components in the public safety realm. Beyond entry level cognitive testing, applicants may also have a physical agility test, medical examination, polygraph examination, drug testing, psychological examination, personality testing, various levels of interviews, and a background investigation. A public safety agency can have varying levels of components and penetration into an applicant’s past in their investigative process as well.1 The courts have supported this depth and breadth of analysis of a law enforcement applicant’s history as found in the decision of Fraternal Order of Police v. Freeman (1978) wherein the exploration and evaluation of an applicant’s œnancial history, results of polygraph testing, and psychological screening were all found acceptable areas to question and the inquiry resisted legal challenge.2 The goal of the process is to either screen in or screen out the applicant based upon their qualiœcations and œt for the position.3 Research has revealed that the average screening time for small agencies is over 6 weeks while the average for large agencies is over 11 weeks.4 Agencies that have fallen behind in revamping their hiring processes can take upwards of 6 months to process
an applicant.5 This delay in processing can signiœcantly limit the applicant pool as one department study revealed that approximately 25% of applicants withdrew their candidacy from the hiring process because of the delays in processing.6 Usually progression of the process begins with the lowest cost components for screening, for example, the written exams are upfront, while the most expensive components of professional evaluations and the background investigation scheduled later for those who survive the initial screening process.
