Make sure to post this on CopTalk

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atek3

atek3

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http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_56314.html

Police reject candidate for being too intelligent

A US man has been rejected in his bid to become a police officer for scoring too high on an intelligence test.

Robert Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took an exam to join the New London police, in Connecticut, in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125.

But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

Mr Jordan launched a federal lawsuit against the city, but lost.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court's decision that the city did not discriminate against Mr Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

He said: "This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class. I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else."

He said he does not plan to take any further legal action and has worked as a prison guard since he took the test.

The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average
 
:uhoh: I may be in trouble when I go to take the written exam later this year...

Maybe I can "fudge" a few answers. ;)
 
This measure is likely in place to keep cops from being smarter that their higher ups. Many who have had a truly stupid boss may not see it as a bad thing.


David
 
Wow so much for that, last week I went to the local college to sign up for the law enforcement course. I figured that with my G.I. Bill money that I could fulfill one of my dreams of becoming a police officer. Well if this is true then I am screwed because I was given an IQ test for a government job and they said I scored a 149. I never really paid much attention to IQ scores but I was told this was good. I wonder if my college placement test would have an effect on this or should I throw some questions on the academy test.:p


Edited to add: I remember a group called Mensa contacting me, does anybody know who they are? All I know is something about IQ's probally a bunch of a-holes that like to pat themselves on the back.
 
Welcome%20to%20Last%20Week.bmp


Sorry. I didn't have a "Welcome to four years ago" gif. This is such old news you couldn't wrap fish in it. In fact, the link in the thread below to CNN doesn't even work any more.

From TFL in September 2000 http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38939
 
As was said, this is old news. One guy in one agency, and a statement made by one chief. In the old days some admins liked to hire them big and dumb, but the trend now is requiring MORE education, not less ( or hiring someone who is dumb). I think the thread starter is the same one who just posted this over at Glock Talk to try to get a rise over there and is also pretty much shot down there.

http://glocktalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=244277
 
There was a story in Northern Kentucky about the same issue. Officers being transfered or fired because they showed a higher intellect and education level than those of thier superiors. Talk about worrying about job security. Kinda funny. "We dont like yer kinda in these parts, ya hear?"
 
Depending on which standardized intelligence test I take at any give time, I score anywhere between 130 and 145, i.e., three or four standard deviations above the national mean. I guess police work is out of the question for me. :confused:
 
Yes, this has been standard policy in both police and fire departments in many cities for some time now.

Of course if the guy were really that smart he would know that and miss a few answers ;)
 
One along the same line...

I have a friend in law enforcement that has a degree in criminology as well as business management. A position opened and he applied for the promotion but was passed over because they did not want to promote him over the others that had applied for the position. The reason was that he had a college degree and they didn't want to hurt the self esteem of the others that only had high school educations. He also had more time on the force than the others that applied as well and one of the others got promoted.

I think the bottom line in this case is that if you are qualified you can forget it. :)

DRC
 
Folks, here is the real deal:

When police departments hire, they post job openings. Fact.

When they hire, as long as the standards are "fairly applied", they can use any testing standard they want. Fact.

What is also an unknown fact is that many departments--especially the smaller ones--know who they will hire BEFORE they even test. The test is administered as a show of fairness.

Thus, for smaller departments:

If you're not a "local boy" or girl,
If you're not well known,
If you're well known, but not well liked,

forget about it!

You have a much better chance on a bigger department.
 
WonderNine

You have a helluva good memory mr. jimpeel.
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Thank you. The fact that the link to the CNN story no longer works is stark testimonial as to why we need to copy-n-paste the article content to the thread for archival purposes.

I'm afraid you're also disqualified.
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Wait a minute! There was supposed to be a prize!
 
Thus, for smaller departments:

If you're not a "local boy" or girl,
If you're not well known,
If you're well known, but not well liked,

forget about it!
Click to expand...

All of the departments I have worked for classify well into the "smaller department" range.

I tend to test somewhat higher than the average on the ACT, SAT, ASVAB, various IQ tests, so on and so forth.

I don't qualify as a "local boy", I'm not well known, and as far as being well-liked, there are a number of people in local government who'd probably take it as a favour if I got hit by an asteroid tomorrow.

I've never had a problem getting hired.

*shrug*

LawDog
 
i'm not crazy enough to post it on glocktalk
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Whats wrong with Glocktalk?

Thus, for smaller departments:.........
Click to expand...

Define "smaller" departments. Of the two agencies I work for, TCSD is civil service. They aren't just going to hire a guy off the street because he's a favored local guy. Most of our recent hires in the last 5-6 years have in fact NOT been local, but from surrounding counties.They are required to move into our county within 6 months of being hired.

My part time agency is a small village PD that hires either moonlighting officers from other agencies or new guys looking to get into the career who need an agency to sponsor them to get in and through the basic school. Thats the oddity with NY law enforcement: you cannot go to the basic school without being hired, but you generally cannot be hired without going through the basic school. I prefer the way other states have set up their hiring procedures over how NYS does it.
 
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