According to Flynn & Peterson (1972), law enforcement concerning metropolitan police units unveils a progressive variation in the idea of metro police departments' functions and roles. It is easy to comprehend the continuous shift in the role and function after studying the technological and industrial moderations that have constantly saturated the community since its commencement. Due to industrial and technological advancements and the increase in societal complexity, it is currently paramount for metropolitan administrators to look into the criteria used for selecting police personnel carefully. Also, the American states started experimental and research projects to assist municipal officials in determining individual traits applicable to the eternal requirements enforced on police officers. However, a literature perusal suggests new formal protocols for selecting and training police recruits (Flynn & Peterson, 1972). Initially, the requirement for joining the police force was the ability to interpret their local community's penal code and fire a weapon.
However, the article suggests that city operations and social structures made it compulsory for city representatives to start reevaluating training and selecting police recruits in the city. The drastic change occurred during the economic depression preceding years of the late 1920s and early 1930s. There were rampant widespread criminal activities and defiance of the law across the nation (Flynn & Peterson, 1972). City officials also noted that law enforcement agencies had insufficient personnel to handle city crimes' overwhelming rate. Therefore, state and city police units started to look for new strategies for their operations, varying from the preceding years. There were various recommendations for selecting police recruits, such as; a written examination comprising a personality, intelligence, a police aptitude test, and a physical exam comprising physical and medical laboratory evaluations (Flynn & Peterson, 1972). The recruits also needed personal experience and an individual interview preceded by a proper and complete character investigation.
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The article's analysis also shows that other recruitment recommendations included written tests such as memory, intelligence, reading, spelling, and comprehension. The police recruits also required an oral, physical medical, and psychiatric examination, a background investigation, and a polygraph test. However, there was a similarity in police recruits and cadet programs' selection criteria as most cities frequently used mental health and mental abilities tests (Flynn & Peterson, 1972). The recruits' performance assessment depended on various reasons such as; completion of training standards, completion of the probationary period, evaluation by supervisors, and time lost for injuries. Therefore, researchers disputed background investigation as selection criteria to judge better character because it did not achieve more outstanding performance than individuals with a week or fair character evaluation. The officials claimed that background information was not a systematic and scientific process of selecting individuals to serve in the police force (Flynn & Peterson, 1972). However, when treated systematically and thoroughly, background information predicts police performance's quality and quantity.
In conclusion, recommendations on the Step Wise Multiple Regression analysis is an effective and suitable strategy for analyzing particular police departments' selection aspects. Even though one can use more than six selection criteria to predict successful recruitment candidates, the multiple regression process unveils details not useful for final selection. Moreover, the method can reveal additional helpful information in effectively choosing competent personnel (Chappell, 2018). Another observation valuable to officials handling police recruitment selection is that training and experience were an efficient single predictor for successive performance in the academy. Since experience represents most of the background information, it is vital in predicting future achievement in the police academy. Therefore, city administrators should develop sophisticated and refined models aimed at collecting background data. There should be uniformity and consistency in any background information and collection system on all police recruitment applicants (Jenkins, 2021). Also, each applicant in the police force deserves investigation through a similar procedure of gathering information.
References
Chappell, A. T. (2018). Police academy training: comparing across curricula. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management .
Flynn, J. T., & Peterson, M. (1972). The use of regression analysis in police patrolman selection. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science , 63 (4), 564-569.
Jenkins, C. (2021). Effective Police Recruitment: Professional Misconduct Risk Regression Analysis for Law Enforcement Officers.
