Even well selected and trained personnel can
experience difficulties once on the job. Fitness for duty evaluations ensure the
continuing reliability of personnel. The need for an effective, defendable screening
resource is best met by professionals who are well experienced in providing law
enforcement services and use procedures that are well proven.
Each
assessment is conducted by a clinical psychologist functioning to the requirements
(to
include professional competency obligations for specialty practice),
of the American
Psychological Association and recommended qualifications of the International Association
of Chiefs of Police. Importantly, each and every report is reviewed by a second police
psychologist to assure the quality, confidence and defendability of the initial
recommendation. The quality assured report is delivered to the Department within two weeks
of the interview.
Fitness for duty
evaluations use the employee's job task criteria, and the same structured clinical
interview and the psychological tests used in entry screening, plus the Millon Clinical
Multiaxial Inventory - III. The procedure, however, is designed to maximize the employee's
sense of trust and fairness in the evaluation. Care is taken to assure that the evaluating
psychologist is provided written information by the Department that defines and details
the concerns that had arisen. Yet this information is not examined until after the
employee has first had the opportunity to tell his/her side of the story. After they are
satisfied that the evaluator understands the concern from their perspective, the doctor
opens the envelope containing the Department's presentation of facts and circumstances.
Taking care to ensure the employee's sense of fairness using this procedure has often
proven to contribute to the employee's adjustment when returning to work, and confidence
in the action taken by the Department when kept from the job. Recommendations of the
fitness for duty evaluation follow the essential questions that are dictated by the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
