I am one of the three background investigators with the police department in Plano, Texas. All told, I have been an officer for fourteen years and have been doing backgrounds for the past 4 and one-half years. As procedures go, our department is probably in line with most when it comes to the hiring process. We test, interview, polygraph, perform backgrounds, have oral interview boards., etc. In that process there has always been a gaping hole where the applicant who "just doesn't have it" manages to slip through. The applicant I am talking about has a good background, good credit, passed the polygraph and so forth . . . yet there is still something about him that does not fit. I have had many of these types of applicants through the years. You come out of the interview with a feeling that there is no way this guy is going to make it on the street. He does not have the ability to "think on his feet" or be flexible enough to deal with a wide variety of situations. Well, needless to say, not being able to "think on your feet" or being "flexible" is not one of our causes of rejection.

As an investigator, I know that when this guy hits the street and enters our FTO program he is not going to make it, but there is nothing I or the department can do about it. By that time we have spent money sending him to the academy, buying uniforms, a vest (both custom-fit), etc., and end up washing him out because he can't cut it. To make a long story short, I know he's not going to make it several months and several tens of thousands of dollars before anyone else does. Enter B-PAD.

As most police officers go, anything new gets scrutinized and is usually labeled a "gadget." I was just as skeptical as the next guy on the video thing. After all, we have been doing it the old way for years. Why change. Let me tell you why. You catch the guys that can't make it. Let me say that again. You can't the guys who can't make it. Until now, I have not been able to articulate the reason one of "those guys can't make it." Now it's as clear as the nose on my face. They can't talk to people. They can't change with the situation around them. They can't interact with the population. They have no ability to apply common sense to the situation. Once you have seen B-PAD and graded as little as even twenty, it's like black and white. Your eyes open up. The ones who don't have it rise to the surface. There is no doubt. You can see the good ones from the bad ones. You know the quality of product before it passes to the next step. To draw an analogy, you would not buy a car without test driving it first, well you get to "test drive" the applicant and see how he interacts with people/situations right off the bat.

Dr. Corey, this process has to catch on. It's not something that is "the way of the future," it's more like "this is the way it should have been all along." Now that I've seen it and used it, I dont' know how we would do without it. I'm sure that when other departments see it they will feel the same way. Thank you for this system of getting us higher quality applicants. I feel much better about the quality people we now pass on to the training program.

Regards,
Investigator, Professional Standards

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