Psychology Testing and the Workplace: An Assessment of the Alaska State Troopers Psych Testing
- Karmin Walker
- Jul 19, 2022
- 7 min read
Within this learner’s experience working for law enforcement agencies, the selected organization type to focus on for psychological testing is law enforcement. Within the roles at these specific agencies, various roles are required to be filled up to and including the role of the law enforcement officer. Which is what this paper will focus on. We will discuss the psychological testing practices currently in use for the Alaska State Troopers and the Oregon State Police. We will then review for potential changes and will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the current processes in place.
The Alaska State Troopers Psychological Testing Processes
The organization selected is a law enforcement agency within the state of Alaska. The state of Alaska has some of the highest rates of sexual assault and alcohol-related offenses. Within the state there are also no County Sherriff’s Offices, thus the Alaska State Troopers must rely on Village Public Safety Officers who are equipped to oversee criminal situations in short bursts of time but will eventually need assistance from the Troopers. The main reason for this is the ability to hold someone in a jail that is not just a plywood box in some villages. Some villages do not even have this, and it makes it difficult to hold someone in custody. The Troopers also provide backup for the VPSOs handling matters on their own.
The position that needs to be filled is that of Village Public Safety Officer. This learner originally began this paper with the idea that we would focus solely on Troopers that needed to be hired, however, thought has brought this learner to select a VPSO instead of AST because if more VPSOs were hired, it would help cause oversight and accountability for Troopers in the village. The job requirements of this position would be that of a public figure, someone that is sworn to protect and serve. The job requirements would be: (1) Applicants are required to apply for the position, and pass minimum qualifications stating that they meet basic requirements of the background screening process; (2) The candidate would then need to pass a background investigation; (3) A psychological and medical evaluation would be conducted to determine if the candidate can fully handle the aspects of the position; (4) A physical fitness test would then also be required to ensure that the candidate can handle physical aspects of the job.
The main types of testing required for this position would be that of a psychological or medical evaluation. Medical evaluations are mostly determined by the medical facility, as a form of a physical examination by a licensed medical provider. These test results are specific to the person and are contingent on the person’s current health and future health/genetics. The psychological evaluation however can be changed and altered over time.
“The police psychological exam is not an evaluation of a candidate’s mental health,” (Indeed, 2021). The psychological examination for law enforcement officers, unfortunately, does not assess a candidate for their mental health status. It only evaluates a candidate for whether they can manage the stress of the days at work and other job-related functions, i.e., seeing gruesome crime scenes and more (Miller, 2017). The United States Department of Justice with the Alaska State Troopers posted a review of psychological examinations and other testing procedures through the hiring process. This review stated that the best way to determine a candidate’s mental health status is through the use of the oral board (Johnson & Clark-Berry, 1981).
Psychological Testing
Many police agencies will utilize the Minnesota Multiphasic Psychological Inventory (MMPI), or updated versions such as the MMPI-2 and the MMPI-2RF (Kaplan, n.d.). The MMPI can be substituted for a variety of other tests as well—however, the use of this psychological assessment is specifically designed as a personality assessment, making it extremely helpful to determine personality traits that would be suitable for a role as a law enforcement officer or not (Skybrary, 2022). The MMPI can also be substituted for a variety of other assessments as well. These are:
(1) Wonderlic—this is a great assessment to assess a candidate or job applicant’s
temperament, reliability, and job performance (Wonderlic, 2022).
(2) California Psychological Inventory (CPI)—this is an assessment used to examine a
candidate’s ability to improve their job performance. This assessment will also
summarize or explain why and how a candidate views their leadership style (Myers
Briggs, 2022).
(3) State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI)—this assessment is used to
analyze how a candidate experiences, expresses, and controls their anger (PAR, 2022).
(4) Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank, RISB or ISB—this assessment is designed to
understand how an individual has adjusted throughout their lifetime, for example, are
they in a mental state at this current moment that would allow them to succeed in the
role of law enforcement for at least five years (Rotter et al, 1992).
(5) Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)—this assessment is another personality
assessment used to determine the potential for a candidate to express tendencies
toward certain psychological disorders. This is not used to diagnose or determine if a
candidate has or will have or has had a psychological disorder, only that it shows the
potential (Morey, 2022).
Testing
The Alaska State Troopers currently utilize the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB or ISB), and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), California Psychological Inventory (CPI), and the Wonderlic. Personally, this learner believes that it is too cumbersome after gaining further knowledge into psychological testing and it is over the top. For these types of careers as Troopers or as VPSOs, we want to ensure we hire only people that are capable of managing the career—correct—but the MMPI is utilized by the vast majority of other departments with much success, and without as many individuals within the Department committing criminal acts within the state of Alaska. The MMPI is a quite common type of personality and psychological assessment utilized among other departments, thus this learner would be comfortable suggesting that this would be the assessment utilized as it would cover everything that all of the separate assessments in use do.
Currently, candidates will schedule a seven-hour window to complete all of the separate psychological personality assessments, and after completion of the written portion of the test, the candidates will meet with the psychologist. The psychologist will briefly go over any answers to the questions that they want confirmation or clarification on and will review the candidate’s background investigation with them as well. Any behavioral issues in their past aligning with their psychological written test scores will result in a pass or fail grade. Currently, the Alaska State Troopers utilize the Public Safety Selection psychologists located in Seattle, Washington for this part of the process.
This learner believes that a drawback to the MMPI is the length of the test. However, when the variety of other tests being utilized currently by the Department can accept seven hours, this learner does believe that the length of time to complete the test would be an issue. A huge benefit to utilizing the MMPI, instead of all of the other various tests, is that it would be one singular test that would calculate the results… ending with a potentially more accurate score at the end. The MMPI also will verify scores against lies, half-truths, and untruths altogether. It would be hard to review the entirety of the scores of various tests for an accurate representation of this if they only got partial answers from each test.
In law enforcement, this testing process is heavily relied upon. However, only personalities are assessed for the ability to hold the job, succeed well, and be a good leader. This learner believes that an especially important piece to this aspect is mental health. How do they cope? How will they manage to see their first deceased individual? How will they manage shooting someone? This learner does not believe that personality tests solely are a great indicator of that and having gone through the process with the Alaska State Troopers while working for them, this learner can firmly and wholeheartedly say that the interview with the psychologist is not all-inclusive. They do not ask about past psychological behaviors, and that is genuinely concerning. This leaner passed the psychological assessment; however, it was overly concerning to know that they are not seemingly interested in your history, only that you will succeed well.
Conclusion
To conclude this paper, while there are a variety of ways to examine a person’s personality for qualifying criteria as a law enforcement officer, military member, or other stressful career types… the State of Alaska Department of Public stated in 1981 that the best way to determine a person’s status of mental health is through the use of the oral board—not through psychological assessments (Johnson & Clark-Berry, 1981). With this information, the oral board could be made somewhat longer, and more in-depth. The Alaska State Troopers ask three-part questions (i.e., tell us about a time when… what did you do… and what did you learn… type of questions), but these focus solely on job performance. While having a background in Human Resources, I understand that aspect, but a huge role in the position of law enforcement officer whether that be Trooper or VPSO is mental health. Asking questions about the position, on mental health would be the best indicator. The Washington State Patrol will routinely have a psychologist sit as a panel member on promotional and recruit interview boards for this exact reason as well. The Alaska State Troopers could learn from other departments.
References
Indeed Editorial Team. 2021. What is the Police Psychological Exam? Indeed.
Johnson, K., & Clark-Berry, C. 1981. Examination of Qualifying Criteria for Selection of Law
Enforcement Personnel in Alaska – Final Report. U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/examination-qualifying-criteria-selection-law-enforcement-personnel
Kaplan. N.D. Police Psychological Exam and Polygraph Test. KapTest.
Miller, L. 2017. How to Pass Your Police Pre-Employment Psych Screening Without Going
Myers Briggs. 2022. California Psychological Inventory (CPI). The Myers Briggs.
Morey, L. C. 2022. Personality Assessment Inventory, PAI. PAR Inc.
PAR. 2022. STAXI-2. PAR Inc. https://www.parinc.com/Products/Pkey/429
Rotter, J. B., Lah, M. I., & Rafferty, J. E. 1992. Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank | Second
Edition. Pearson Assessments.
Skybrary. 2022. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Skybrary.
Wonderlic. 2022. Personality. Wonderlic. https://wonderlic.com/wonscore/personality/
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