Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

positions are directed to demonstrate in their application materials any
qualifications relevant to Recommendation 7.
RECOMMENDATION 9: The TPS consider whether to recruit actively from
certain specific educational programs that teach skills which enable a
compassionate response to people in crisis, such as nursing, social work, and
programs relating to mental illness.
RECOMMENDATION 10: The TPS direct its Employment Unit to hire classes
of new constables that, on the whole, demonstrate diversity of educational
background, specialization, skills, and life experience, in addition to other metrics
of diversity.
RECOMMENDATION 11: The TPS instruct psychologists, in carrying out their
screening function for new constable selection, to assess for positive traits, in
addition to assessing for the absence of mental illness or undesirable personality
traits. In this aim, the TPS, in consultation with the psychologists, should identify
a specific set of positive traits it wishes to have for new recruits and should
instruct the psychologists to screen-in for those traits.
RECOMMENDATION 12: The TPS include the psychologists in the decisionmaking
process for new constable selection, in a manner similar to their
involvement in selecting officers for the ETF.
RECOMMENDATION 13: The TPS compile data to allow the Service to
evaluate the effectiveness of the psychological screening tests that it has used in
selecting recruits. Relevant data may include data that show what test results
correlate with officers who have satisfactory and unsatisfactory interactions with
people in crisis.
Working group regarding Psychological Services
46. The recommendations in this chapter and in Chapter 9 (The Mental Health of
Police Personnel) provide for an expansion of the role of the TPS psychologists within
the Service. The increased involvement of Psychological Services in decision-making
processes is not intended to detract from the decision-making authority of current TPS
officials, but rather is intended to serve as an aid to increase the quality of the
information that is used to make decisions. In that aim, I recommend that:
RECOMMENDATION 14: The TPS strike a working group that includes
participation from the TPS Psychological Services unit to comprehensively
consider the role of Psychological Services within the TPS, including:
(a)
More Information: whether the current process for psychological
screening of new constables is effective and whether it could be
improved, including whether TPS psychologists should be given
more information about candidates to assist them in interpreting
their test results;
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