A 2018–2019 Snapshot of Psychological Screening Rejection Rates: Perceived Trends Reported by Police/Public Safety Psychologists

Abstract

Complaints that there are “fewer applicants” and/or “less qualified candidates” applying for positions as police/public safety officers may reflect a larger or growing problem in this field’s recruitment efforts today. The two surveys and six survey studies conducted here, including a one-year follow-up, were initiated in order to identify the perceptions of working police/public safety psychologists who regularly attend at least one of three national conferences and may provide a representative base of active police/public safety psychology professionals today. Results include the documented perceptions of these psychologists that up to 50% of their police/public safety agencies have lowered their officer selection standards in recent years, with 58% of the 2019 survey-responding psychologists (N = 51) reporting that at least one of their agencies “lowered its selection standards within the last 12 months.” Psychologists also reported a difference between their “current rate of candidate rejection” on pre-employment psychological evaluations (PEPEs) and their “desired rate of candidate rejection,” suggesting that police/public safety organizations may be hiring more “borderline” or potentially “psychologically-unfit” officers in recent years in order to fill officer vacancies. A number of reasons for apparently increasing selection challenges nationwide are documented in these psychologists’ completed surveys.