Problematic police performance and the personality assessment inventory

Weiss, William U.; Zehner, Sarah N.; Davis, Robert D.; Rostow, Cary D.; DeCoster-Martin, Emily

doi:10.1007/bf02806703

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…These tests generally capture the "Big Five" personality constructs: extroversion, emotional stability (vs. neuroticism), agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience (Sanders, 2003). Although there has been some success in linking various subscales of tests to specific negative outcomes such as termination and turnover (Weiss, Zehner, Davis, Rostow, & DeCoster-Martin, 2005), several researchers have concluded that such tests hold little predictive value, particularly with regard to identifying good performers (Ash, Slora, & Britton, 1990;Aylward, 1985;Dwyer, Prien, & Bernard, 1990). Alternatively, recent research by Sarchione, Cuttler, Muchinsky, and Nelson-Gray (1998) and a meta-analysis by Ones, Viswesvaran, Cullen, Drees, and Langkamp (2003) indicate that selected psychological constructs-such as agreeableness and impulse control-may be useful in predicting a broad range of police behavior.…”

Section: Efforts At Predicting Police Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Good Cops Early

White

2008

Police Quarterly

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Police departments have traditionally assessed their performance through crime-related activity measures that often have little to do with good police work and offer little hope for prediction of exemplary performance. This article suggests some progress can be made in predicting superior performance by considering an earlier stage in a police officer's career where performance is well-defined and measurable: the police academy. Using recruit performance data (n = 1,556) from a large metropolitan police department, the article uses linear and logistic regression, as well as Chi-square Automatic Indicator Detector (CHIAD), to identify predictors of superior performance in the academy. A number of interesting findings emerge with regard to factors that offer predictive value-reading level, age, gender, and race-and those that do not-college education, military experience, and residency. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for recruitment, selection, and training, as well as for measuring and predicting performance on the street.

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Section: Efforts At Predicting Police Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Good Cops Early

White

2008

Police Quarterly

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“…This line of inquiry demonstrates that certain personality traits are useful in explaining officers' deviance including: immaturity, aggression, hypomania, disinhibition, extraversion, neuroticism, cynicism, persecution, low self-control, stimulation seeking, egocentricity and a lack of restraint (e.g. Davis et al, 2004;Girodo, 1991;Hargrave and Hiatt, 1989;Sarchione et al, 1998;Sellbom et al, 2007;Weiss et al, 2005). Among other outcomes, these traits were significantly related to neglect of duty, insubordination, citizen complaints, departmental discipline and criminal arrests.…”

Section: Psychological Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Using criminological theory to explain police misconduct: a state-of-the-art review

Donner

Maskály

Jennings

et al. 2021

PIJPSM

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the extant published literature using traditional criminological theories in an effort to explain police misconduct.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reflects a narrative meta-review of through a search of several academic databases (e.g. Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminology: A SAGE Full Text Collection, EBSCO Host and PsychInfo). Twenty-nine studies, across six theoretical perspectives, were identified and reviewed.FindingsThe extant research generally suggests that traditional criminological theory is useful in explaining misconduct.Practical implicationsThe findings call on agencies to continually strengthen their recruiting and hiring processes to select recruits with suitable characteristics, and to improve their early warning systems to detect officers with patterns of problematic behavior. Also, the findings call for multiple avenues of future scholarship, namely, in theory development/integration and in refining the measurement of police misconduct.Originality/valueThis paper will be useful for researchers who wish to further explore the etiology of misconduct, and for police administrators who wish to reduce the prevalence of such behavior.

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“…While psychological and personality screenings are somewhat commonplace in American policing, much of the past research on their predictive abilities has utilized officer performance metrics that are not directly related to police-community interactions or officers’ behaviors in the field. The recurring negative outcomes include formal reprimands, disciplinary suspension days, referrals to employee assistance programs, termination, unnecessary force, insubordination, neglect, tardiness, attitude problems, absences, derelictions, and transfers to restricted duty assignments (Bartol, 1991; Costello et al , 1996; Koepfler et al , 2012; Lough and Ryan, 2010; Lowmaster and Morey, 2012; Tarescavage et al , 2015; Weiss et al , 2005). The few positive outcomes measured include supervisor evaluations, professionalism, knowledge of the job, and satisfaction (Detrick and Chibnall, 2006; Mufson and Mufson, 1998; Scogin et al , 1995).…”

Section: Psychological Examinations In Police Hiring Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting procedural justice behavior: examining communication and personality

Lawrence

Christoff²,

Escamilla

2017

PIJPSM

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Purpose Law enforcement agencies have historically used psychological examinations, in addition to other methods, to screen candidates out of the applicant pool. However, agencies could be better served by ensuring recruits are predisposed to the expected behaviors and qualities that are required as part of community-oriented and respectful policing. The purpose of this paper is to provide an initial look into what officer-level characteristics might lead to improved treatment in police-community interactions (PCIs). Characteristics under review include communication styles and personality dimensions. Design/methodology/approach Data come from the National Police Research Platform’s longitudinal recruit study and its PCI survey. Community members were surveyed about their interactions with officers involved in the study. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze these two-level data. Findings The findings suggest that certain officer-level characteristics were associated with higher perceptions of procedurally just behavior. Specifically, officers with higher levels of empathy and lower levels of neuroticism scored higher on both the officer’s quality of treatment (QT) and quality of decision making toward the community member. Additional to those dimensions, officers with increased emotional control received higher scores on their QT. Originality/value These findings have important implications for identifying and measuring new characteristics to be used in police hiring procedures. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first instance where personality dimensions and communications styles have been used to predict law enforcement officers’ procedural justice behaviors in the field.

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Problematic police performance and the personality assessment inventory

Cited by 21 publications

References 5 publications

Identifying Good Cops Early

Identifying Good Cops Early

Using criminological theory to explain police misconduct: a state-of-the-art review

Predicting procedural justice behavior: examining communication and personality

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