TEST PREP
Why trait assessment is so prominent
in police testing
The most interesting yet questionable component of competitive public safety testing is
commonly referred to as “personality assessment.” This somewhat abstract and controversial form of testing on a competitive entry-level
law enforcement examination is known more
accurately as “trait assessment.” In evaluating
construct of the current civil service and
DR. DAVID A. the
non-civil service written examinations being
PAPROTA
utilized in New Jersey for entry-level candidates,
it is clear that trait assessment is, and will likely
remain, a staple in public safety testing. Why trait assessment, as
opposed to the traditional law enforcement examinations of the
past? Will trait assessment ever make its way onto promotional
examinations?
Each of the current entry-level exams has a recognizable and
expected cognitive component that tests candidates through a
multiple-choice format in many of the traditional areas of
reading comprehension, logical reasoning, problem sensitivity,
written expression etc. Through the years, the more challenging
cognitive components (e.g. memorization) have been removed
from the exam because some have been found statistically to
result in a disparate impact on a protected class of candidates.
Regardless of the more challenging components being removed
from the entry-level exams of the past, the exams always have
remained facially valid and very competitive.
Any candidate can sit and evaluate the cognitive portion of the
examination and readily identify that the content relates to the
position for which the candidate is testing. While no law enforcement experience or knowledge is necessary to take these entrylevel examinations, each cognitive question is formatted with a
law enforcement theme which maintains a feeling of relevance
and facial validity while actually testing the various, very specific
cognitive abilities of the candidate.
Ultimately, the scoring is reported in rank order to one onethousandth of a point, so the difficulty or perceived ease of the
cognitive portion is not really a relevant issue. A more skilled candidate should beat his or her competition, whether the cognitive
section is considered “easy” or “hard.” It’s relative. The key issue
is whether the examinations remain valid and reliable to achieve
fairness in competition. This is where the trait assessment
portion becomes a potential concern.
Trait assessment is the most significant psychometric
advancement in police testing. This assessment allows for
tremendous flexibility on the part of the exam developer through
the construct of his or her own proprietary scoring scales. Whereas a conventional cognitive problem – such as 1+1=2 – is concrete
and absolute, a trait assessment instrument tends to be very
abstract. There are a tremendous number of varying trait assessCONTINUED ON PAGE 74
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