Criminology

Purpose of Recommendation Report
The aim of this recommendation report is delve into the two candidates profiles that have made applications for the police recruitment to determine who will emerge as the ideal police officer.  This report is being prepared for the internal police recruitment panel who will utilize it to arrive at a decision with regard to who among the two police officers is the better candidate for the job. This report has crucial and necessary items which will be of value to the team in arriving at a decision on who to recruit. It will encompass information such as their personality and educational details and other relevant information which are deemed necessary in the reporters view in assisting the panel reach an uncompromised and impartial decision.

A Brief Summary of Each Applicant
The first applicant is female aged 32years with a masters degree in criminology. She has worked as an administrative officer for three years and has done home duties for four years. She is very conscientious, averagely agreeable, extraverted and neurotic and not very open to experience. Her communication skills are good. She has excellent knowledge of criminology and policing and has very high motivation for police role. She is a woman of integrity.

The second applicant is a male aged 28 with a Bachelor of Science degree who has worked as a bar attendant and retail assistant for two and three years respectively. He is highly conscientious, open to experience and extraverted and averagely neurotic and agreeable. He has excellent communication skills and very high motivation for the police role although his knowledge of the recruit training process is very little.

A Summary of the Educational Profile of Each Applicant
Applicants for the police officer position require at least an education level ranging from high school diploma to a college degree or higher. At least high school education is required although some departments only require one or two years of college coursework or a college degree in some cases (Resolved Question). Most of what is needed to be known is learnt on the job most often done in their training academy agency (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2009, p. 547).

Tertiary qualifications may add to officers competitiveness and graduates from a wide range of disciplines not limited to justice, law or criminology studies can be recruited into the police force (State Occupation Information, 2008, p. 548).

A good education is essential especially in this era of information, for officers to be able to cope with challenges in the police work which involve complicated equipment and mobile data terminals all which need a formal instruction to operate (McCafferty, 2003, p.79). Robertson (1998, p. 11) additionally observes that various services and tasks by police officers in Australia have become complex hence the need for higher levels of accountability and skill.

The first applicant has a masters degree in criminology while the second one has a Bachelor of Science degree. The first applicant has a degree related to the field of criminology while the second one has a field unrelated to criminology. Both applicants are suitable for the position of police officer since the minimum requirement for being a police officer is a high school diploma or college diploma in any field.

PERSONALITY
According to Knight (2005, p. 880), the most valuable commodity to be possessed by a police officer today is integrity. This must be maintained at all cost since officers are in a position of trust by the public and breaking this trust creates a hostile atmosphere between the public and police.

Professionalism and commitment must be maintained in all that is done. The first duty of police officers is to the community and the mission of the police department. High loyalty degree is thus needed and courage a lot of danger characterizes the police force. Among the highly desired personality traits in police officers include, openness, extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism.
Aspirants also need to be flexible, intelligent, with interpersonal competence and communication skills. They need to possess an initiative and good judgment to this hard and risky job to be able to work effectively. No specific type of person is desirable. Rather, what are needed are individuals who possess varied skills together with other abilities which are demanded by the complexity of the roles of law enforcement which are constantly changing and the services needed by citizens.  The second applicant possesses high degrees of most of the personality traits required. He is highly conscientious, very open to experience and highly extraverted and averagely neurotic and agreeable.

The second candidate, based on their personality profiles, is more suitable for the position. He has most of what is required in terms of personality and at higher levels compared to the first applicant and will most likely not struggle on the job. The first applicant might struggle a bit on the job because she is not very open to experience yet this is a highly desired attribute. Apart from her conscientiousness, the other attributes are in average levels. She might have to step up some of these traits in order to suit in the job.

Other Things to Be Considered For the Selection of Applicants

Worklife experience
Respect for authority and the ability to get along with colleagues is a very important requirement for prospective police officers especially since the police officers in the course of duty constantly rely on each other. The flow of the chain of command and rank must be well understood. Additionally, the way anger is handled by an individual should be assessed carefully as well as relationships and interactions with friends (McCafferty, 2003, p. 79). Personality tests are sometimes given to applicants to confirm this (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2009, p. 561). McCafferty (2003, p. 81) additionally observes that prospective candidates should be people who enjoy working with people and meeting the public. Support of fellow officers is needful at all times for the common safety of all concerned thus the need for officers to be able to enjoy working with others. The life and work experience can be a good indicator as to whether an individual enjoys working with people or not.

The first applicant has worked as an administrative assistant and has also done home duties. These are responsibilities that do not give one enough exposure to the public. The second applicant, on the other hand, has worked as a bar attendant and retail assistant. This is a responsibility that exposes one to people from all walks of life on a daily basis. This could be indicative that the second applicant enjoys working with the public more than the first applicant thus making him more suitable for the position.
To become an Australian police officer, the number of years of employment experience matter a lot. For work experience of less than three years, one must finish three or more semesters of study in a bachelors degree. Three to five years of work experience call for 400 hours of diploma study or eight subjects or a bachelors degree. Full time work experience of more than five years requires 200 hours of diploma study or four subjects of bachelors degree (Keller, 2009, p. 657). Both applicants have worked for more than three years and have a minimum of a bachelors degree thus qualify for the position.

Integrity Checks
Knight (2005, p. 884) observes that the most valuable commodity to be possessed by a police officer today is integrity. Both applicants integrity checks are clear thus making both of them suitable for the position.

Interviewer Comments
Appraising the reasons for the individuals desire to become a police officer is among the things that need to be assessed when recruiting police officers (McCafferty, 2003, p. 80). Both applicants have very high motivation for the police role and on this basis both of them are suitable for the position. Excellent communication skills, keen listening skills, good judgment and good decision making skills are required for police officers. The first applicant has good communication skills while the second has excellent communication skills. This is a skill that is highly desirable in the police force and both of them have it although the second applicant will be more advantaged since he is excellent in this skill.
The first applicant has excellent knowledge of criminology and policing while the second applicants knowledge of the recruit training process is very little. In this vein, the first applicant is more suitable. However, recruits usually go through a training process after recruitment on what is expected of them as police officers. This would thus put the two at a level ground since most applicants need a minimum of a high school or college diploma in any field to qualify. Both applicants thus qualify.

Age
Applicants should be at least 21 years and have to meet rigorous personal and physical qualifications (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2009, p. 553). However, depending on the police department the applicant would like to work in, and the nature of the town you live in, the minimum age for recruitment could even be 18 years (Sergio, 2007, p. 248). The first applicant is 32years while the second one is 28 years making them both suitable for the position on the basis of age.

Recommendations
This recommendation report has attempted to assess the two applicants based on their profiles, and while relying on appropriate literature on the qualities of an ideal police officer, attempted to identify the most desirable candidate, by giving the report to the recruiting panel to utilize in selecting the most suitable candidate. The second applicant is the most suitable candidate and I would recommend him for the position. He possesses most of the highly desired personality traits in the police force, has a high motivation for the police role and experience with working with the public. The lack of openness and lack of prior experience in working with the public in the second applicant might come in her way of doing the policing work. She needs to step up some of her personality traits and that coupled with her prior knowledge in the field and high motivation for the police role she may fit in the profession.

Applicants need to be given exams which will reflect the actual ability to do the job for which they are applying for. These exams can thus be tailored to ask the applicants to demonstrate ways in which they will be able to do job related tasks. Consequently, role playing would be important in evaluating potential police officers. The process of selection from many candidates should be limited to the very best applicant for further evaluation. Only the best educated, qualified, moral, dedicated and ethical candidate ought to be selected. A polygraph should be utilized in the evaluation of background information received. Problem candidates need to be eliminated before being hired and in turn becoming a problem because of negligent hiring, retention or supervision that is not effective. There is need for civil service commissions to be aware of the nature of problems which are involved in the selection and recruitment of police officers (McCafferty, 2003, p. 81). An adequate salary is required to hire the ideal police officer so as to make the police work profession competitive with those other jobs which can be obtained by prospective officers (McCafferty, 2003, p. 81).