Professionalism in Crime Scene Examination: Recruitment Strategies, Part 2: Using a Psychometric Profile of Top Crime Scene Examiners in Selection Decision Making

Abstract

Recruiting high-caliber personnel is crucial in law enforcement and in the forensic sciences. Selecting personnel with the potential to excel in crime scene work is no exception. This is the third paper in a series on professionalism in crime scene examiners (CSEs). The first paper identified the seven key attributes that set top-performing CSEs apart from their lesser performing peers. The second paper presented an overview of a recruitment strategy for selecting applicants with the potential to become top-performing CSEs. In the second paper the author discussed the use of psychometric testing as a resource to aid decision making in hiring well. The aim of this paper is to expand that discussion of how psychometric testing can be used appropriately in forensic recruitment decision making. This paper will provide forensic managers with a valid psychometric profile of top-performing CSEs along with guidelines for how to use this profile correctly within a targeted and focused five-stage recruitment process.

Keywords:

• Recruitment forensic personnel
• forensic management
• crime scene examiners
• leadership
• career development

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Australian Federal Police Forensic and Data Centres for supporting the psychometric testing of the top field forensic scientists.

The authors would also like to thank Associate Professor Roberta Julian, Professor James Robertson, and Mr. Rob Hayes for their comments and insights on earlier drafts of this paper.

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge two funding sources that supported this research: The Australian Research Council (LP0882797) and industry linkage partners, Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police Forensic and Data Centres, and the National Institute of Forensic Science for funding the collaborative research project, The Effectiveness of Forensic Science in the Criminal Justice System.

Notes

1. The term critical skills and key attributes are synonymous with a talent inventory. The term crime scene examiner (CSE) is used to encompass crime scene officer, forensic science officer, scenes of crime officer, and also covers both civilian personnel and police officers that carry out major crime scene work.

2. The sample of CSEs and details about the detectives, managers, and colleagues who peer-nominated them is described in more detail in paper one of this series; please refer to Kelty, Julian, and Robertson (2012).

3. The psychometric tests discussed do not represent a comprehensive test battery. For a complete guide to psychological aptitude tests, please refer to the Buros Institute of Mental Measurement (http://buros.unl.edu/buros/jsp/search.jsp).

4. The Watson-Glaser II Critical Thinking Appraisal can be purchased from Pearson Assessments/Psychological Corporation. Refer http://www.pearsonassessments.com/pai/).

5. The Ravens Progressive Matrices are available from Pearson Assessments/Psychological Corporation. http://www.pearsonassessments.com/pai/.

6. Cronbach's alpha is a statistical measure of the internal consistency of a psychometric test. Effectively, the higher the alpha of a set of items in a psychometric test, the more confident you can be that the test will always elicit consistent and reliable responses from test completers or job applicants.

7. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the stress management techniques used by top-performing CSEs. Please refer Kelty and Gordon (2013) or email the first author for copy of this manuscript.

8. Last, not all organizations will choose to use psychometric testing, or the tests that we discussed in this paper. It is vital that recruiters confirm that the tests they want to use comply with any legal requirements or other employment agreements