Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

James Herndon

Abstract

As a method of building relationships with the public, some police forces have integrated community members into the candidate assessment and selection process. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine the effect of integrating community evaluators as a new method in the assessment and selection process for police officers in a city police force. Media richness theory and general mental ability were used as a framework, and archival data from a large Midwest department of public safety were collected by filing two public records requests. Data from 2,510 police candidates were included. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using correlational and regression tests to examine rater agreement, subgroup differences (gender or race/ethnicity) in selection outcomes, and the predictive validity of a testing method as measured by academy performance with and without the integration of community evaluators. There was no evidence to suggest that integrating community evaluators into the assessment and selection process for entry-level police officers affected rater agreement or subgroup differences in selection outcomes. The findings from this study support positive social change by indicating that integrating the community into a structured assessment process did not impact selection outcomes as measured by gender, race/ethnicity, or academy performance, which may encourage public safety departments to build community relationships by inviting local residents to participate in the assessment and selection process for police officers. Other social change may include the effect that the integration of community members could have on applicant and community perceptions of the assessment and selection process for police officers.

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