AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: SEPTEMBER 2017 15 T o people out- side the world of law enforce- ment, psych screening or testing for new officers seems like a no-brainer. When some officers in Minneapolis complained that the psychological test- ing was biased and making it harder for people to join the law enforcement profession, Commander Gerald Moore explained the problem. ”The officers look at it from the standpoint that they’re being discrimi- nated against in some form or fashion, and I think they look toward the psychiatrist and don’t feel as though they’re being represented,” Moore told the Star Tribune last Janu- ary. Whether or not there will be similar levels of resistance in South Caro- lina remains to be seen, as that state will now require psychological testing for police hires. Starting next year, any- one that’s applying for a police position in South Carolina will have to pro- duce proof that they’ve passed a psych evaluation before they can enroll for training. “In the environment we’re policing in today, with the scrutiny of law enforcement, obviously this is more important than ever,” said State Law En- forcement Division Chief Mark Keel, chairman of the Law Enforcement Training Council. At accredited agencies in the Palmetto State this isn’t an issue. They already require testing. But out of the roughly 300 agencies in South Carolina, just 59 of them are accredited. The good news is that the legislature is funding the testing. There’s about a half million dollars bud- geted to reimburse agen- cies for the cost of the screening. It costs $300 per screening, Swindler said. Newberry County Sher- iff Lee Foster called the funding a “blessing.” “So many agencies — es- pecially small, rural agen- cies — are not able to afford a psychological evaluation and testing,” Foster told reporters. Andrew Ryan is a retired NCIS chief psychologist and former chairman of psychological services for the International Associa- tion of Chiefs of Police. He says this ain’t rocket science. “The idea is to make sure we don’t let anyone into the system where there’s some question,” Ryan said. “It’s very hard to argue down the road if a mistake is made. ‘Well, we thought he was a good guy,’ or, ‘He looked like he was going to be a good guy,’ doesn’t work.” Obviously just psycho- logically testing cops to see if they should be cops isn’t some kind of silver bullet. The new mandate only means that a test has to take place. Hiring is still up to each agency’s chief or sheriff. “We do not make them show us the results. That’s on that agency. That’s where the liability falls,” Swindler said. “Hopefully, people will use it prop- erly.” Perspective on the importance of psych screening for police officers Omar Mateen, the mass murderer who shot and killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub, really wanted to be a police officer. Thankfully he wasn’t hired and be- came a security guard. Mateen took some kind of basic law enforcement aptitude test in Florida, failing on his first try and passing after he took the test a second time. The test Mateen took is in no way a psychological evaluation. But the point is that any resource, mechanism or screening process that can keep people who go on to become mass murderers from becoming law enforcement professionals is obviously a very good thing. A test at least Chiefs and sheriffs are free to ignore the results if they want to roll the dice or someone’s friend, a donor or son-in-law who needs a job. APB360.com // 602-497-4606 Asset Tracking | Inventory Management & Audits | Expiration Warning Systems | Training & Education Records | Budget Management | Chain of Custody | Performance Analytics See the results now at APB360.com/LE How many of your officers are wearing expired body armor? If you don’t know, you need APB360. Keep track of your issued gear down to the bootlace. With APB360 you will know within seconds where your equipment and supplies are allocated, see your inventory levels, track expiration dates, and more. It’s simple, fast, and robust. Feel the relief of APB360.