This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as
Pathology, personality, and integrity-related construct assessments have been widely used in the selection of police officers. However, the incidence of police brutality and misconduct is still concerning. The present study explored the feasibility of the assessment of cultural competence in police officers. We explored the extent to which the change to the agency’s first ever Black CEO would affect cultural competence of the officers as well as incidence of misconduct. Results showed that scores on a cultural competence factor of an in-basket simulation used for promotional assessments at a state highway patrol agency were not predictive of either supervisor-rated performance or incidence of misconduct. Whereas results showed that misconduct was not predicted by the agency’s first Black CEO, cultural competence of the officers did increase after the change in command. Practical implications for law enforcement agencies and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Although Melson-Silimon, Harris, Shoenfelt, Miller, & Carter (2019) raised a number of important points regarding the use of dark trait measurement tools in selection systems, we argue that administering these tests as part of a selection process is unlikely to result in violations of the ADA. Specifically, we argue against the suggestion that we should "avoid measuring personality constructs that are closely related to PDs : : : particularly those that assess known PDs and 'darkside' traits that are often subclinical measures of PDs" (Melson-Silimon et. al., 2019, p. 129). To buttress our argument, we will critically evaluate various EEOC guidelines. Further, we will use relevant case law throughout to strengthen our perspective. Specifically, we will be referring to assessments such as the Self
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.