Situational Tests. A New Attempt at Assessing Police Candidates

On September 29, 1829, the Metropolitan Police of London, England, entered upon their first day of duty. Of the first 2800 men recruited into that organization, at least 2238 (or approximately 80%) had to be dismissed from the force. All 2800 officers had been hand-picked by a very careful system of selection. Each candidate had to submit three written testimonials of character, one of them being from his last employer; the writers of these testimonials were personally interviewed. If a candidate passed through this stage, he reported for a medical examination, which in practice meant an inquiry into both his physical qualifications and his general intelligence. Less than one in three of the applicants was successful in passing through this stage. Those who did were then interviewed by an experienced personnel officer who eliminated the candidates obviously not suited to police work and passed the survivors on to the first two Commissioners