Law Enforcement Hiring Process

[SanchoPanza]

The Employment Application

An employment application is intended to allow an applicant to set out, in writing, their desire for a posiion, their qualifications for a position and their history which supports their qualifications. A handwritten application would give some information regarding grammar, penmanship, and spelling.

I submit that if the information contained in the application is not confirmed in some manner, it has little or no value in determining someone's suitability for employment. Even confirmation that the applicant is the person who actually handwrote the application is required to draw any sort of conclusion about grammar, penmanship, and spelling.

My score for an employment applications independant value in determining suitability is 0 unless confirmed. Error rate is based on the honesty and accuracy of the applicant.

[nopolycop]

The Employment Application

An employment application is intended to allow an applicant to set out, in writing, their desire for a posiion, their qualifications for a position and their history which supports their qualifications. A handwritten application would give some information regarding grammar, penmanship, and spelling.

I submit that if the information contained in the application is not confirmed in some manner, it has little or no value in determining someone's suitability for employment. Even confirmation that the applicant is the person who actually handwrote the application is required to draw any sort of conclusion about grammar, penmanship, and spelling.

My score for an employment applications independant value in determining suitability is 0 unless confirmed. Error rate is based on the honesty and accuracy of the applicant.

I am not convinced the employment application is to be used in the selection process as much as it is used as a basic introduction to the candidate, and only after selection, is the information then subject to verification.  It is interesting, that when I first started in police work, the employment ap. was typtically very short.  I was astounded that when I went for a Top secret clearance, that the Personal History Questionairre, (Ibelieve that was the name) was so very detailed.  To get my "Q" clearance, it took 4-5 months, and each and every fact on that questionairre was verfied by a human being.  IN fact, a few years later, I ran into an old girlfriend who related a story to me, that she was tracked down by the investigator and asked about me.  I had never listed her as a reference, but someone else told him about her.  Also, polygraphs were not given by DOE at that time.  I suspect that the poly has replaced such a thorough background check.  

[SanchoPanza]

The application is the introduction to the selection process and provides the criteria for the first separation of qualified candidates from unqualified candidates.  The selection process won't really start without one and without an application the background investigation doesn't have much to work on.

If one fills out an application and does not at least allege to be qualified for the position, their applications will most likely be rejected. For example if the job requires a highschool education and the applicant fails to answer that they have a high school education then they can be disqualified without further testing. Most government employment application packets include a notice that any intentional false statements in an application are not only grounds for disqualification but may be used as grounds for termination even after the applicant is hired.

The employment application used by some agencies require a doctors statement that the applicant can safely submit to physical agility testing as well as release forms for background information and if these forms are not properly filled out then the applicant is going to be rejected as well.

If inclusions or omissions in the employment application can be used in any way to disqualify an applicant, it must necessarily be included as part of the selection process.

Convinced yet?

Sancho Panza

[nopolycop]

Convinced yet?

Sancho Panza

I am not understanding what I am supposed to be convinced of.  The application process is what it is, and good faith attempts to verify the information on an employment application should be taken, to nullify the risk of negligent hiring, and to ensure the applicant is qualified as such.  Do you include the Personal History Questionairre in the employment application?  And, is the background package, (material ostensively verfied by polygraph) included in your application, or is that a seperate issue?  I vote we get to the meat of the issue as quickly as possible, time is money...

[SanchoPanza]

Whose money?  are you being paid?

nopolycop You wrote

I am not convinced the employment application is to be used in the selection process

I maintain that if the content of the application is used to reject any applicants or to separate "qualified applicants" from "unqualified applicants" that it is part of the selection process.

The conclusion to be reached that since the accuracy and efficiency of this part of the selection process is based solely on the unverified and unchallenged truth of the applicant then the application in and of itself has little value as a sole determining factor of an applicant's suitability for employment as a police officer. It doesn't really matter whether or not the application includes what you refer to as a Personal History Questionairre because even if it does, depending on the answers to those questions, rejection can occur even if the responses are unverified.

Sancho Panza

[nopolycop]

Whose money?  are you being paid?

nopolycop You wrote

I am not convinced the employment application is to be used in the selection process

I maintain that if the content of the application is used to reject any applicants or to separate "qualified applicants" from "unqualified applicants" that it is part of the selection process.

The conclusion to be reached that since the accuracy and efficiency of this part of the selection process is based solely on the unverified and unchallenged truth of the applicant then the application in and of itself has little value as a sole determining factor of an applicant's suitability for employment as a police officer. It doesn't really matter whether or not the application includes what you refer to as a Personal History Questionairre because even if it does, depending on the answers to those questions, rejection can occur even if the responses are unverified.

Sancho Panza

Regarding money, I am not being paid to type here, although I suspect many people who post here are on the clock somewhere.  But, that is not the point.  I work for myself, and I wasn't doing this, I could be doing something that was paying.  I entered this whole discussion as a subject that interests me.

In any event, I don't have any problems with your assessment of the employment application, so why don't we move on?

[nopolycop]

Well, I guess Sancho has left the building.