Background investigation, psychological assessment and medical screening

Boyce invites one of Port Ardent's background investigators to the class. Detective Ana Ruiz, a former fraud investigator, has been doing background files for three years. She brings a redacted file, about a hundred and twenty pages long, for an applicant who was hired two years ago. It includes the applicant's personal history form, police record checks, a driving abstract, a credit report, notes of interviews with nine references, three former employers, two former landlords and two neighbors, a review of public social media, and a twelve-page summary report. Ruiz says the average file takes her about forty hours over six to eight weeks.

'People think a background check is a computer search,' she says. 'The computer part takes an hour. The rest is me talking to people who know you, and checking that what they say matches what you said.' This lesson follows an applicant's file through the last stages before an offer: the background investigation, the psychological assessment, the medical examination and, in many agencies, a polygraph examination and a drug screen.

The background investigation

The background investigation has two purposes. The first is verification: confirming that what the applicant has said is true and complete. The second is prediction: looking for patterns of behavior that suggest how the applicant is likely to behave as an officer. Investigators look especially at honesty, reliability, judgment, respect for others, temper and self-control, use of alcohol and drugs, financial responsibility, and any history of violence, harassment or discrimination.

The investigation usually begins with record checks, including the National Crime Information Center, state and local records in every place the applicant has lived, and court records. The investigator then works through the personal history form, contacting references, employers, schools, landlords and sometimes neighbors and former partners. Federal agencies combine the investigation with a security clearance. Investigators often ask references for the names of others who know the applicant, so they hear from people the applicant did not choose.

Ruiz describes the most common problems she finds. The largest group is omissions: jobs left off the form because they ended badly, a prior application to another service, an old charge the applicant assumed did not count. The next is minimizing: describing a firing as a resignation, a fight as an argument, regular drug use as 'once or twice'. A smaller group involves patterns that cause concern even when disclosed: repeated conflicts with supervisors, a series of short relationships ending with police calls, debts ignored for years, or a social media history of demeaning comments about women or minority groups. 'One bad job is a bad job,' she says. 'Four bad jobs is information.'

She also explains what does not usually end an application. A single youthful mistake that was disclosed, a past debt that has been paid, a firing that the applicant explains honestly and that the employer confirms, and past counseling for a problem that has been dealt with are all things she sees regularly in files that end in a hire. What she looks for is honesty, insight and change.

The polygraph and drug screening

Many American agencies use a pre-employment polygraph examination. Federal law, through the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, generally prohibits private employers from using polygraphs on applicants, but it exempts government employers, including police agencies. The examiner asks a series of questions, often about drug use, crimes, honesty in the application and other topics, while recording physiological responses such as breathing, heart rate and skin conductance. The scientific evidence on polygraph accuracy, reviewed by the National Research Council in 2003, found that it performs better than chance but is far from perfect, particularly for screening large numbers of people, and many agencies use it mainly as a prompt for disclosure rather than as a decisive test. Ohio requires a drug screen as a condition of entry to basic training, and agencies usually require one before hiring. Ruiz's advice for every kind of check is the same: answer truthfully, and if you remember something you left out earlier, say so before the check rather than after.

The psychological assessment

Most police services require a psychological assessment before hiring. It usually has two parts. The first is a set of standardized written tests of personality and psychological functioning, sometimes including the personality assessment taken earlier in the process. The second is an interview with a psychologist, who reviews the test results, the personal history and sometimes parts of the background file, and asks about the applicant's life, relationships, stress, coping, and reasons for wanting the job.

The psychologist is not looking for perfect people. They are looking for conditions or traits that would make the job unsafe or unmanageable: serious untreated mental illness, poor impulse control, high hostility, rigid thinking, substance misuse, or a pattern of poor coping under stress. They are also looking for strengths that predict success, such as emotional stability, conscientiousness, empathy and the ability to recover from difficulty. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the psychological evaluation that assesses mental health conditions generally comes after a conditional offer, and a condition is not in itself disqualifying unless it would prevent the person from doing the essential functions of the job safely, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Applicants worry about this step more than any other. Boyce's advice: sleep properly the night before, answer the tests honestly and consistently, and in the interview, be open about difficulties you have had and what you did about them. 'The applicants the psychologists worry about,' she says, 'are the ones who say they have never felt stressed or sad. That is either not true or not healthy.'

The medical examination

The medical examination checks that the applicant meets the service's health standards and can safely do the job and its training. It usually includes a general physical examination, vision and hearing tests, and sometimes blood tests, a review of medications and a cardiac assessment. In the United States, the medical examination generally comes after a conditional offer under the Americans with Disabilities Act. As with every other stage, conditions that are disclosed and well managed are assessed on their merits.

What references are asked

Ruiz describes her reference interviews. She does them in person or by phone, usually for twenty to forty minutes. She asks how long the person has known the applicant and in what capacity, how the applicant handles stress, conflict and criticism, whether they have ever seen the applicant lose their temper, drink to excess or use drugs, how the applicant treats people they do not need to impress, whether the applicant is reliable with money and commitments, and whether the reference would trust the applicant with a gun and with their family's safety. She always ends by asking whether there is anything else she should know, and who else she should talk to.

She has learned to listen for hesitation. 'Most references are friends, and they want to help,' she says. 'But they are also being asked about someone carrying a gun in their community, and most people take that seriously. When someone pauses for a long time before answering a question about temper, I write down the pause.' She also notes that former partners, when contacted, can be the most informative sources about how an applicant behaves under stress at home, which is why domestic history is examined carefully.

The applicant's rights

Desjardins reminds the class that applicants have rights in this process too. They must consent to the checks, usually in writing, and the consent forms describe what will be collected and how it will be used. Federal and state law, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act for credit reports obtained through consumer reporting agencies, governs some of the information employers collect, and applicants are entitled to certain notices before adverse action based on such reports. Services must also follow human rights and disability law in how they use what they learn. Applicants who believe they have been treated unfairly can ask for reasons and, in some cases, complain to the relevant oversight or human rights body.

Boyce adds a practical point. If an applicant is unsuccessful at the background stage, the service may not give detailed reasons, especially if third parties provided information in confidence. Applicants can ask what areas to work on before reapplying. 'Sometimes the answer is time,' she says. 'Two more years of steady work and no problems changes a file a great deal.'

How long it takes, and why

Ruiz explains why background investigations take so long. References are slow to call back. Former employers may have closed or changed hands. Records from other provinces, states or countries may take weeks to arrive. Applicants who have lived or studied abroad may need additional checks. An applicant with a straightforward history and organized documents may be finished in a month; an applicant who has moved often, held many jobs or left gaps in the form may take three. She sees no reason for applicants to worry about a long silence, but she does ask them to keep her informed of changes, such as a new job, a new address or a new relationship, during the investigation.

She adds that investigators are not trying to find reasons to reject people. 'Most of my files end with a recommendation to hire,' she says. 'I am the person who gets to tell the panel that what you said was true. Help me do that.' Applicants can help by giving complete contact details for every reference and employer, warning references that she will call, explaining gaps in the form before she asks, and answering her questions directly. When she does find a problem, she usually gives the applicant a chance to explain it before her report is written.

Desjardins connects the background investigation to the investigation courses in the program. Ruiz's method is the same one the students learned for criminal investigations: gather information from several independent sources, compare it, look for inconsistencies, and give people a chance to explain before reaching a conclusion. 'You will be doing this to other people for the rest of your careers,' he says. 'It is fair that it is done to you first.'

Finally, Ruiz reminds the class that the background investigation does not end at hiring. Officers are subject to ongoing checks, including periodic security clearance renewals for some roles, and they must report changes such as arrests, charges, civil suits and some financial events to their service. 'The habits that get you through the background are the habits that keep you in the job,' she says. 'Tell the truth, and tell it first.'

Amara asks whether her parents and siblings will be contacted. Ruiz says that family members are sometimes interviewed, mainly to confirm addresses and background, and that investigators may ask about close associates if there is a reason to. Having a relative with a criminal record is not in itself a bar to hiring, but applicants should disclose it if asked, and should be aware that services have rules about associating with people involved in crime.