WEEDING OUT POLICE APPLICANTS WHO ARE UNABLE TO WRITE INTELLIGIBLE REPORTS

Ask any cop what he dislikes most about his job and he’ll likely tell you it’s writing those damn police reports. And yet, those reports are crucial to good police work and to the successful prosecution of criminals.

The process of selecting police applicants is costly and time consuming. In most police agencies it begins with a written test, a physical exam and a physical agility test. If the applicant passes those tests, he will have to pass a polygraph examination. Then he will have a psychological evaluation. After that comes an extensive background check. So far the process may have taken several months to complete. If finally accepted, the recruit will attend a training academy that can last anywhere from 6-9 months. (Some agencies shorten the training period for graduates of a college criminal justice program.) If he passes the academy, the recruit will have to pass a 6-12 months probationary period under the supervision of a field training officer (FTO).

During the probationary field training phase it is not uncommon for a police agency to discover that it has recruited an applicant who cannot write acceptable police reports. Because of all the expense and time expended, the recruit who cannot write intelligibly is usually retained rather than dismissed.

Those reports should clearly tell readers, whether they are other officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys or probation officers, what the patrol officer or detective saw, did and discovered during an investigation. If the report is well written, the reader should be able to place himself in the shoes of the report writer as if he (the reader) were conducting the investigation himself. Poorly written reports, when scrutinized by outsiders, are an embarrassment to the agency and worse yet, they can result in failed prosecutions.

It has been my experience, both as an officer and as a criminal justice educator, that many high school graduates and even some college students are unable to write intelligibly. Unfortunately, many applicants with unacceptable writing skills have been allowed to enter the police service. A good part of the problem is that while there are plenty of whites who cannot write intelligibly, police agencies fear being accused of discriminating against minorities.

Police agencies can do something about those poor writing skills. The Riverside County (California) Sheriff's Department, had a unique way of weeding out applicants who were unable to express themselves well enough to write acceptable police reports.

After submitting an application and before being administered any tests - written, physical, psychological, polygraph - applicants were required to come into the recruitment office to write two one-page essays. In one essay the applicant had to write why they wanted to become a police officer and in the other essay the applicant had to describe the duties of a police officer.

The two essays would then be evaluated by a committee of officers to see if the applicant expressed himself well enough to write acceptable police reports. (Punctuation and spelling were not considered in the evaluation.) If the essays indicated that the applicant would not be able to write intelligible police reports, he/she was informed that his/her application had been rejected. He/she would be encouraged to take remedial writing courses at a local community college and upon completion of the courses, resubmit an application.

A significant number of applicants were rejected in this way. That allowed RCSD to save the time consuming and expensive tests and background checks of applicants who would be unable to write those all-important police reports intelligibly. And while the Al Sharpton types will scream that the writing tests discriminate against minorities, those essays are entirely race and gender neutral.

Retired Riverside County Sheriff Cois Byrd says, “It's a very simple, but honest test.” And he corrected me by adding, “'Terribull Spellink' does count, but minor errors are not a cut factor.”

In my experience and my research I have yet to come across a program that beats Riverside's for weeding out unqualified applicants without depending on the usual testing and background checks, as well as beyond. I hope the sheriff who succeeded Cois Byrd was smart enough not to scrap this unique application process.