Written Examinations
Virtually every law enforcement agency administers some kind of written examination in order to acquire employment there. Whether the test is something as simple as filling out an application by hand, or completing a sophisticated battery of written tests conducted under strict testing procedures, each agency will require some kind of written challenge for the applicant. There are quick-score examinations that can be administered, graded, and scored within an hour. Other written exams can take days to administer and rival the bar association or the medical board examinations.
Many departments administer the written examinations within the department. Others send applicants to remote locations or to private testing services where the exams are given by non-department personnel.
Alert
A new trend among some agencies is to initially screen candidates through a private personnel service. These independent agencies often require applicants to pay a fee to have their application reviewed and the preliminary testing conducted. These agencies are not the hiring authority, and they do not choose who is ultimately hired, but they choose which applications will be forwarded for consideration.
There is no way to cram for the majority of law enforcement tests, much less a comprehensive guide you can study that will help in any way—you either learned the material through your education and your experience, or you didn't. However, there are techniques that can help applicants prepare themselves for the examination process.
Standardized Tests
Standardized testing like the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is known to most young adults who have completed high school. The SATs are a requirement for acceptance at most colleges. There is an entire body of science that can be devoted to the strategies for taking SATs that may or may not yield higher test results. One strategy calls for narrowing down the possibilities by throwing out the obvious two or three answers and making an informed choice between the remaining two. This, in theory, reduces the odds from one-out-of-five (or 20 percent) to one-out-of-two (or 50 percent). This, in theory, means the person has a fifty-fifty chance of getting the answer correct, but it also means there is a fifty-fifty chance that they'll get the answer wrong.
What most people don't realize is that with standardized tests like the SATs, only the questions answered (right or wrong) are counted for scoring purposes. The score a person receives is a percentage that is based upon the number of correct answers from the total number of questions answered, not the total number of questions on the exam. That means if the person guessed wrong it would count against them, but if they didn't guess at all it wouldn't count against them.
Fact
Local departments are operated locally because of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. It says anything that isn't specifically listed in the Constitution as the responsibility of the federal government falls to the states. Since enforcement of the laws of any state is not articulated in the Constitution, enforcement of the laws of the states remains with the states.
Presumably, a minimum number of questions must be answered in order to have the exam count as an examination taken. If not, in theory, the person taking the test could conceivably put their name on the top of the answer sheet, answer one question correctly, and receive an 800 for their SAT score. Few people who sign up to take the SAT are willing to attempt such a trick, so we'll likely never know.
Few law enforcement written examinations follow the testing format of the SATs. There is no nationally standardized law enforcement examination for local and state agencies, and for several good reasons.
Preparing for Localized Testing
There is no national police force in the United States. Even though there are federal agencies that are involved in the enforcement of federal laws, these agents have no jurisdiction when it comes to enforcing state laws and local ordinances; this is the specific role of local, county, and state police agencies. This tends to make law enforcement somewhat provincial, since the language of law is different from one state to the next. Even though recruits may not need to know a lot of details about law enforcement, knowing something about local customs, conditions, and practices is certainly helpful.
One of the more practical reasons for localized testing, aside from the peculiarities of each jurisdiction, is the need to keep everything in one place, so testing can be done whenever an opening occurs. Some departments require the flexibility of being able to test candidates quickly and frequently in order to keep their hiring process moving quickly and efficiently.
Probably the biggest obstacle to testing for smaller departments has to do with the costs. If an outside agency or company is used to do the testing, there is a fee that is charged for each test administered. If an overwhelming number of candidates must be tested, utilizing a private testing service can represent an extreme financial hardship for a small department.
