Module 12 Psychology and Police Selection,

Recruitment and Training

Objectives

 To have a basic understanding of the issues involved in the recruitment,

selection, training and retention of police officers
 Understand the advances that have been made in police training
 Recognise the links between relevant and continuous training and the
promotion process
 Understand why such major changes in training within the police service
were necessary.

Introduction

Over the course of a career in the police, an

individual will be called upon to play a
number of roles and to perform many and
varied tasks. All officers start as a constable
walking the beat, some may diversify into
traffic, criminal investigation, public disorder,
firearms, mounted branch, dog handling and
so on. All of these roles require basic
policing skills but a wide variety of different
skills and abilities. As an officer progresses
through the ranks it will be necessary to
acquire leadership and management skills.
The identification of a core set of policing
skills has been a constant problem for the
police service. The police psychologist plays
an important role in assisting the police service in the recruitment, selection and
training processes. The bulk of the literature on how psychology aids the recruitment
and selection process stems largely from North America (Wright 2008).

Selection and the police personality

Twersky-Glasner (2005) suggests that in the U.S. most police departments use
psychologists to administer pre-employment psychological screenings to candidates
for recruitment in order to ensure that only the best psychologically fit candidates are
selected. Hogan and Kurtines (1975) report that use of the CPI (California
Personality Inventory) revealed significant differences between successful and non
successful applicants for police recruitment. Whilst the unsuccessful applicants were
reasonably sound in terms of personal effectiveness they were significantly different
on nine out of the nineteen CPI scales. These were:

Police officers were more assertive (dominance)

Police officers had more potential for social mobility (capacity for status)
 Police officers had more social poise (social presence)
Police officers had a more pronounced sense of self worth (self acceptance)
Police officers had a need for autonomous achievement (achievement via
independence
Police officers had more functional intelligence (intellectual efficiency)
Police officers had more psychological mindedness
Police officers had more masculinity (femininity)
Police officers possessed greater social acuity (empathy)

Putwain and Sammons (2008) report slightly different results for the testing of a
sample of British police officers, but this should not be surprising since the research
conducted by Gudjonsson and Adlam (1983) used the Eysenk Personality
Questionnaire. They found that police scored higher on measures of extroversion
but lower on measures of psychoticism, indicating that police tend to be outgoing and
relatively lacking in coldness and aggressiveness. Further testing showed that
officers tended to have lower scores on measures of empathy.

There is a conflict here with the American research, but this could possibly be
explained by the fact that the American research was conducted on successful
applicants for the police service. They had yet to serve as police officers. The
British research involved experienced officers so the lower scores on empathy need
not imply that the British police officers were unfeeling individuals, but possibly that
they have developed strategies for not becoming emotionally involved and in coping
with the more unpleasant aspects of their work.

These findings give rise to the nature/nurture debate. They raise the questions, are
people born with a personality that suits them to police work? Or does the police
service mould personnel to the ideal organisational personality? Work by Austin et al
(1987) which studied individuals who had left the police service showed that their
personality traits remained relatively stable, supporting the nature or dispositional
view. Putwain and Sammons (2008 p64) cite the work of Adlam (1981) which found
that some characteristics, such as cynicism, increased with service, supporting the
socialisation view and suggesting that some characteristics are learned.

Other personality tests such as the Birkman method use a combination of regression
and factor analysis to identify a respondent's everyday interpersonal style, (usual
behaviour), giving insights into underlying motivations and needs. Stress behaviours
are identified when these needs are not met. Birkman identifies employment groups
best suited to individuals with differing sets of behaviour patterns. This method tends
to suggest that a person suited to a career in law enforcement might also be suited
to careers in firefighting, ambulance service or the military. This appears to suggest
that people with a certain personality profile are drawn to careers with a degree of
similarity in structure, role, objectives, etc. whilst also pointing to the idea that the
development of other characteristics may well be due to learning.
Psychology and police training

Once suitable candidates have been recruited and selected they need to be trained.
Training is a vitally important part of the personal development of a police officer,
preparing them to effectively and efficiently carry out the policing role. The bulk of
police training is delivered by the service itself either at police training centres or “on
the job”. A good deal of the training is carried out by police officers who have
undergone training and obtained a relevant qualification.

Matters which are frequently discussed today, such as terrorism, air and sea
hijacking, hostage negotiations, drug taking, solvent abuse, computer frauds
involving millions of pounds, police firearms units, police support units, rape crisis
centres, victim support schemes, neighbourhood watch or multi-agency working
were all unfamiliar fifty years ago. Even the idea of police officers undergoing human
awareness (HAT) training was unknown. Poole (1988) argued that ventures such as
human awareness training were a response by the police service to major changes
in society, as well as reports on police behaviour which proposed significant changes
of emphasis (Scarman 1981). Whilst cultures, expectations and behaviours in
society have changed and continue to change policing has traditionally been geared
towards action rather than academic theory. Policing involves making decisions,
often in stressful situations, and resolving problems. The psychologist assists police
trainers in providing open ended situations in which the relevant skills can be
developed.

It has been recognised that the capacity to communicate, general intelligence, and
the ability to handle people are crucial elements of policing, and that an important
element of police training is the development of these elements by use of a variety of
teaching methods in training situations designed to develop skills, as well as
knowledge by incorporating the practical nature of the task and opportunities to
review and build upon the experience of both the trainer and the trainee.

Denkers, (1986) a psychologist employed by Amsterdam City Police, agreed that

police officers should be trained in social abilities and should have views on society,
building their personalities to a stable and mature form. He argues, however, that
this should not be at the expense of a sound theoretical and technical knowledge of
the law. Law and regulations are themselves, meant to make the police deal with
crime and crises in a decent fashion, that is, one which is impartial, unprejudiced,
restrained and without discrimination. It could be argued that in Britain, the
enactment of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) was designed to do
exactly that.

These are what Denkers terms “formalised decency norms”. He suggests that gaps
in the knowledge of regulations may lead to gaps in the upholding of the law and
sometimes to an unacceptable selectivity in law enforcement. Whilst social skills are
of help when the normal duty of an officer brings him/her into a problematic
encounter with the public, these skills are of no avail when these encounters are
made problematic because the officer in question does not know what the law
requires. In these circumstances the officer tends to lose self confidence and
become insecure, and if the opposite party threatens to gain the upper hand, will
readily fall into the behaviour of most insecure people; in the absence of moral
authority backed by the law they will resort to authority backed by force.

Denkers argues that false arrest, police harassment or use of excessive force should
be avoided if officers know the law and how to act accordingly. He suggested three
products, functions or goals that training and social education should be directed
towards:

 To strive for and maintain a level of carefulness and decency that is higher
than the normal operant level that can be expected from the general public
 To place the responsibility for human interactions where it belongs, with the
citizens. This must be done whenever and wherever possible
 To react to the emotions of the public in a way that can be recognised as real
concern.

Gagne and Bolles (1969) suggested that maximising similarity of training tasks and
job situation is a problem that faces all trainers, not just police trainers. They
believed that if the training task was similar to the job situation then transfer to a final
task, the job, would be directly related to the degree of learning that occurs during
the training task. To the extent that the training differs from the job situation, critical
learning or over-learning would reduce the amount of transfer and thus be inefficient.
The precise degree of similarity which determines the transition point, that is, how
much training is most effective, is the crucial parameter in this problem, but one
which continues to be elusive. Sheldon and Stevens (1966) suggested that in any
particular instance, it is an empirical question, just how much learning will lead to the
most effective transfer. In particular cases differences in the temperament of the
students and in the form and structure of the learning event will also affect this
parameter.

For Gagne and Bolles the ideal training schedule was a two stage affair in which,
firstly, the learning of the task was optimised and, secondly, in which transfer to the
work situation was ensured by making the training task maximally similar to the job.
Pfeiffer and Ballew (1988) appeared to lend support to this hypothesis when they
suggested that for optimum transfer of learning, the learner must be actively involved
in the learning experience and not simply a passive recipient of information. The
learner must be responsible for their own learning. Adults learn by doing, they want
to be involved, so much so that no one should merely demonstrate how to do
something. Hannon (1992) claims that if an adult learner can perform a task, they
should be allowed to do so, even if coaching is required and the learning event takes
longer.

Pfeiffer and Ballew claim that problems and examples presented to the learners
must be realistic and relevant since adults relate their learning to what they already
know. In the 1980s police training in Britain switched from the didactic to the
facilitative model concentrating on the solving of problems likely to be encountered in
day to day policing. With human awareness training (HAT) there was a move
towards developing the skills needed to deal with people, especially at times of
personal crisis. Poole (1986, 1988) supported the notion that creating sufficient
overlap between training and the transfer of skills to the work place was a necessity.
He argued that in many types of vocational training the pouring in of information
does little to develop the skills and application necessary to carry out the job. “If
information is presented, information is what the student acquires, in discussion at
least, something has to go on in the students' minds before they speak”.

He criticised the police service for adopting an academic, school orientated model of
training and presenting isolated packages of psychology, management and race
relations, etc. the impact of which on street level policing had been relatively minor.
Poole pointed to the fact that successive generations of officers of the Metropolitan
Police had been required to learn verbatim and be tested on a paragraph concerning
their attitude to the public. This required them to recall that a police officer should
look on himself as the servant and guardian of the general public and treat all law
abiding citizens, irrespective of race, colour, creed or social position, with unfailing
patience and courtesy. He suggests that the impact of that learning can best be
judged by the complaint statistics.

Student officer training

The introduction of the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP)
has led to a change in the way that student officers or probationers are trained. As
of 1 April 2006, all forces in England and Wales became responsible for their own
training instead of officers going to regional residential training centres. Acting on
recommendations from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, traditional residential
police training has been phased out in favour of in-force training. Training is now
more family friendly with officers usually being trained locally while living at home.
Community engagement is another key principle behind IPLDP. Student officers are
trained within their own force and, at times, within their own division, particularly for
their community placements. This provides officers with a far greater understanding
of the needs of the local community in the area that they will ultimately be policing.

Curriculum

The development of a curriculum specification for police probationer training in

England and Wales was part of the programme for the modernisation of policing, and
the grounding of police probationer training in communities and neighbourhoods. It
grew out of a report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary which reported
that probationer training was "unfit for purpose" to support 21st century policing.
Two key elements of the review were (1) the democratic engagement of community
in the design and provision of police probationer training, and (2) developing a
practice based approach to professional training and development. The review team
were asked to pay special attention to diversity issues concerning policing and ethnic
minority groups, gender issues and disability concerns, as well as work-based
learning possibilities. The project used a deliberative democratic methodology
embracing a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector organisations in
broad ranging consultations and verification.

Forces are now following different qualification routes, such as the foundation degree
in policing, or a national vocational qualification (NVQ) at levels three and four in
policing. However, student officers need to show that they meet National
Occupational Standards, both through completion of examination and demonstrating
knowledge in the workplace, to successfully complete their training. The IPLDP
curriculum has been designed in line with National Occupational Standards and has
also incorporated requirements from Professionalising the Investigation Process
(PIP) level 1 and the race and diversity learning requirement.

The new curriculum has 22 learning modules which are divided into four phases:

 Phase 1: Induction
 Phase 2: Community safety and partnership
 Phase 3: Supervised patrol
 Phase 4: Independent patrol

Each force is required to validate their IPLDP against the Quality Assurance
Framework addressing actions and sharing noteworthy practice (NPIA 2010).
An Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) scheme has been introduced
which means that new recruits may be able to use existing qualifications and
experience to bypass sections in the IPLDP curriculum.

These advances in police training address criticisms made by the Adult Learning
Inspectorate in its report of 2005, that is that:

 Forces do not understand student officers’ individual learning needs

sufficiently
 Forces do not have formal referral procedures to ensure that they meet these
needs
 The assessment protocol does not provide sufficient advice and guidance on
standards for training. It is not understood by all forces
 There is no recognition of student officers’ previous knowledge and
experience, either at the recruitment stage or on joining the programme
 There is no strategy that allows for early completion of the student officers’
training programme.

The Professional Investigation Programme provides an example of commitment to

relevant and continuous learning.

The Professional Investigation Programme

A number of high profile reports and reviews together with the Police Reform Act
2002 and the Police Reform White Paper (2001) highlighted the need for the police
service to professionalise all aspects of police investigations, to address issues such
as inconsistent standards of investigation, failing community confidence in the police,
high attrition rates and the lack of benchmarked standards in Policing (Home Office,
2003).

Sir Ronnie Flanagan (2008) in his final report of the Review of Policing
recommended that:

“the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) should provide guidance

 and assistance to police staff and officers to allow them to progress their
careers within the police service through better management of their
professional development.”

One outcome of these recommendations was the Professionalising Investigation

Programme (PIP) which is aimed at police officers and staff whose role involves
them conducting or managing investigations, conducting interviews with victims and
witnesses, and interviewing suspects.

The PIP is a national project being led by the Association of Chief Police Officers
(ACPO) and was developed in accordance with the Home Office, the National
Centre for Policing Excellence (NCPE), now known as the National Policing
Improvement Agency (NPIA) and the Police Skills and Standards Organisation
(PSSO), now known as Skills for Justice.

“PIP aims to improve the investigative process by examining existing

investigation procedures and developing ways to make the police service
more professional, ethical and effective for both officers and police staff
involved in investigations” (PSNI PD02/08).

The development and maintenance of investigative skills is at the heart of the

programme which is a major business change programme that will deliver the
capability to conduct professional investigations. It is not just about delivering
training to staff who are about to enter the service or start in a new investigative role.
It encompasses investigators of all ranks ensuring that they remain competent to
practice throughout their service (NPIA 2010).

Police promotion

The commitment to the development and maintenance of policing skills is reflected in

the police promotion process. The Police Objective Structured Performance Related
Examination (OSPRE) promotion process was introduced in 1992. It was introduced
nationally as the primary means through which police officers in England and Wales
are selected for promotion between the ranks of constable to sergeant and sergeant
to inspector. The OSPRE Part I Examination consists of a single, 150 multiple
choice question paper lasting three hours. All of the questions presented to
candidates are in multiple choice format and test knowledge of law, evidence and
procedure that has been identified as being crucial for effective performance at the
next rank. If candidates are successful in their OSPRE Part I examination they are
then eligible to attend the OSPRE Part II work sample assessment centre. This
assessment centre is made up of seven role-acted work sample exercises
measuring the behavioural competencies associated with an effective performance
in the target rank of sergeant or inspector. The behavioural competencies were
developed from a national job analysis and are laid out in the police services
Integrated Competency Framework (NPIA 2009).

Over the past thirty years police psychology has had a significant influence on the
way officers are recruited, trained and promoted. It is playing an increasingly large
part in the way that the service deals with the stresses that the job imposes on its
practitioners.
Suggested reading

NPIA (2010) Initial Police Learning and Development Programme. Available at

http://www.npia.police.uk/en/docs/J7209_NPIA_BusPlSumRev_06EXTERNAL.pdf
accessed 5 April 2010
NPIA (2010) Professionalising Investigations Programme National Police
Improvement Agency available on line at www.npia.police.uk/ accessed 4/04/10
Wright, M. (2008) “Police Psychology” in D. Canter (ed) Criminal Psychology Hodder
Education: London

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