The Investigator Planning Exercise: The Selection of Detectives in the Chicago Police Department.

Construction of a work sample test, the Investigator Planning Exercise (IPE), for the job of detective in the Chicago (Illinois) Police Department is described. Simulated crime scenarios, a mock crime scene, and five checklists of necessary skills (i.e., ability to summarize and communicate facts, identify inconsistencies, and determine the next action) were prepared. To screen the maximum number of candidates, the IPE was designed to be administered to between 400 and 600 applicants in a single day by 50 boards of 3 raters each. Safeguards included using raters who did not know each other, assigning as many minority and female raters as possible to the boards, allowing the applicant to reject up to two boards for cause, and requiring raters to explain extremely divergent ratings on the six scales making up the evaluation. In all, 189 police sergeants received rater training, which began with a 5-hour classroom session examining a similar selection process. The process for youth officers was used. Rater trainees viewed videotapes of mock review boards and practiced rating applicants. Although raters were not given the actual checklists, they did receive explanations of restrictions on the rating process. Additional training was given in a 2-hour hands-on session in which the actual check lists were reviewed. Trainees were also offered optional training in the test process in 15 2-hour sessions introducing test-taking strategy. On the test day, 619 applicants were tested. The psychometric results are reviewed briefly. Four tables of study data and an eight-item list of references are included. (SLD)