Compromising Police Hiring Standards Never Ends Well
Let’s draw the line: cops need to meet reading standards!
Compared to other nations, policing in America has a great reputation. About ten years ago, my intern, originally from the Baltic States, said that police officers in those nations, Serbia and Croatia, had a poor reputation. They couldn’t qualify for a good job and were generally considered dullards. Through hard work and determination, she eventually was hired and became a sworn officer. Vloggers RVing through Central America routinely film traffic stops where officers won’t return driver licenses and force them to follow them into town for a shakedown. This has been going on for some time. In 1983, Car and Driver magazine conducted a comparison test in Baja, Mexico where they found a policing philosophy that substituted currency for arrests:
“Before the mission was completed, the hapless followers of (Editor Don) Sherman faced bouts of the turistas, numerous encounters with the Mexican federales, a high-speed collision with a cow, floods, maroonings, the deep-sixing of a Datsun Maxima, and the consumption of more high-octane tequila and stomach-scouring Mexican food than any collection of Americans since Blackjack Pershing chased Pancho Villa.” It’s been 40 years and I don’t think they’ve been back.
Also, consider Amanda Knox, arrested by Italian police and held in an Italian prison following her roommate’s murder with zero evidence, while burglar and murderer Rudy Guede was concurrently convicted with a mountain of damning physical evidence. Despite a media complex focused on false narratives involving law enforcement, even they have an expectation in the United States of a professional response when they call 911.
Professions Don’t Let Standards Slide
Perhaps you may be concerned if I propose that in 15 years, doctors will decline in effectiveness and proficiency by ten percent. How about a near future where engineers will not be as good at determining strength levels and limits for bridges and football stadiums? What if I proposed that our national defense capabilities decline by 20% in the next decade?
We have a natural expectation that the officer of the future will build upon the knowledge of and experience of past generations of law enforcement. This public safety recruiting crisis is a poor excuse to abandon the core competencies necessary in a generation reliant on the engagement of advanced technology and information systems.
Request to Lower Reading Standards
The City of Philadelphia has proposed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a change of standards:
“In a letter this week to leaders of the General Assembly in Harrisburg, public safety officials asked legislators to amend a state law that requires recruits meet specific reading and fitness benchmarks before they can enroll in the police academy.”
Mayor Kenney was noticeably absent on the letter. The district attorney, Larry Krasner and the mayor, have created policies and practices that have both undermined public safety and incentivized officers to seize their earliest opportunity to retire. The police department is budgeted for 7,400 officers and has a shortage of 900 with another 800 out the door in the next four years. In 2022, there were 564 cops off the road on injury and disability claims. That leaves only about 5,900 in uniform or behind the desks.
“It’s unclear whether the General Assembly would consider granting a Philadelphia-specific exception for police hiring rules. But the ask underscores the lengths to which the city is willing to go to fill hundreds of vacancies in the Police Department, which has seen a mass exodus of officers over the past three years.” They recently rolled back a city-limits residency requirement that required living in the city for a year before applying.
It is critical and fair to define the ask. The City of Philadelphia is asking the state assembly for a rule change on the admission to police academy, for three years, and promising that reading performance will be meeting standards by the time they reach the state certification exam. They are asking the state to give them a temporary break on that standard while they get enough people crossing the threshold to have a class.
An education administrator recently addressed a well-intentioned effort. She applauded the ‘thinking outside the box’ but recognized that, often, the box is there for a reason.
Besides being a defense attorney’s dream, the stigma of being hired with a downward departure of standard reading abilities will haunt the officer. Failing a civil service exam, coming back to retake and pass it, is preferable to being passed on with a documented reading deficiency. Regardless of the effort to maintain peer confidentiality, the genie will be out of the bottle in the first weeks of the academy. Also, relaxing standards should mean that there is still a bottom. If passing is normally 77% is the relaxed standard 62%? It must be close enough to expect an improvement with additional remedial training during the 20 to 30 weeks of stressful academy training. Learning to read, and read well, best takes place before you apply for a policing job.
The Worst Part: It Won’t Work
In the end, there will be a number of washouts in the academy. About 15 years ago, I ran into a couple of recruits in the lobby who were being walked out. They had failed their first two exams at the academy, Persons with Disabilities and Legal 1, and during our conversation, they hinted they thought those weren’t such a big deal. They left knowing that I thought those subjects are vital and essential. Putting recruits in the academy, receiving 32 to 40 hours of classroom instruction, that haven’t met the scholastic standards of the assessment test or the civil service exam deprives them of the success factors necessary to thrive in the training program.
LOWERING POLICING STANDARDS GAINS MOMENTUM
During the last thirty years, almost every agency has made the occasional mistake by hiring someone below established standards. Exceptions were made but they were calculated risks. Sometimes they paid off and sometimes they didn’t. In the worst cases, they were the negative news story of the year and a poor reflection on …
Who are going to be the future supervisors, managers, and command staff? If you can’t retain your officers, you probably won’t have to worry about promoting them. Picking the right recruits in the first place solves a lot of problems today and in the future. The good news is that there are effective strategies to find officers who will join and thrive at your agencies. The bad news is that we are going to need substantially more officers than most generous projections.
Sincere Condolences to All Philadelphia Police Employees
On October 12, 2023, while reporting to work, Officer Richard Mendez was murdered and Officer Raúl Ortiz was shot and injured by car burglars at the airport. So far, one suspect has been arrested.
Please keep all officers in your prayers, especially Interim Commissioner Stanford and the men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department.
References:
For recruiting inspiration, consider this event in Orlando on November 2.
http://www.honortheheroes.org
Great article! Thank you. Years ago, the Phoenix area departments were allowing candidates who “just had” misdemeanor drug warrants. Wow. Read the article I wrote on this called the Mudslide of Expectations...
Great writing, as always. What a mess!