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19 March, 2011
CJ 406-WA6 Hiring Practices at Greenfield Police Department
Introduction
Hiring practices are vital in a company; nevertheless how the practice is conducted may portray concern in the administration staff and its community. The aim of a recruiting process is to obtain qualified candidates intended for organisational jobs. According to Mathis (1991), the recruiting effort translates human supply plans into achievement and also to fill openings of unexpected job opportunities. How well an employee is coordinated to a job greatly influences the quality and quantity of their work.
At Greenfield Police Department, a job applicant has to have a two-year enforcement degree. The applicants are initially screened with a standardized written exam which uses a language not specific to the institution. This test has not been revised for a long time and emphasizes on traditional crime strategies. Interviews are also conducted and consist of a panel of police managers reading general questions to applicants and follow up questions are discouraged. Preferred answers are given to the managers to use in assessing the applicants. Successful applicants are required to pass a rigorous physical fitness test to test for strength, endurance and agility.
Improving the hiring process at Greenfield Police Department
Hiring practices consisting of impolite interviews, poor testing procedures, unnecessary long waits, discrimination, and the lack of follow-up correspondence may cause unfavorable impressions on the employer. Job analysis should be done at Greenfield Police Department in order to put up a specification and a job description which will in turn help to hire the right quality of personnel other than having to subject the applicants to unfair tasks, for example the written test that has not been revised for long time whose expected results might be outdated to some applicants and the information required inaccessible. The interviewing should also be conducted taking into account word choices, questions not related to the job should be avoided as well as those related to race, sex, creed, nationality, and marital position.
Applicants must to be given an opportunity to describe detailed examples of their best skills to calculate their future performance other than basing their physical capability on the physical fitness test. Constant improvement of the written test used on the applicants would also be essential in improving the hiring practices at Greenfield Police Department which would include having to include an essay to the written test to encourage the applicants to learn more about the job as well to test their writing abilities.
The Community policing strategy
Community-oriented policing would play a fundamental role in informing the manager at Greenfield Police Department of citizens’ view on their services including the hiring process. In community policing, the perceptions of the public on the hiring process effectiveness and reply are essential and are often measured by interviewing members of the community. Results from public surveys can also act as means for holding police liable to the applicants (Lord, 2009). This will also help improve trust between community and the police as well as enhance partnerships through a range of strategies and tactics. Understanding of community-oriented policing has been associated with reduced crimes and stronger feelings of society attachment than the
traditional policing strategies (Adams, 2005). This policy could farther translate into improved and more satisfactory hiring practices at Greenfield Police Department.
Conclusion
A company’s manager is responsible to provide reasonable and unbiased recruitment, but it is a company’s duty to ensure that the environment stays fair and unprejudiced. This can be best achieved by adopting the community based policing.
References
Adams, R., Rohe,M., Arcury, T. (2005), Awareness of community-oriented policing and neighborhood perceptions in five small to midsize cities, Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 33 pp.43-54.
Aragon, E and Kleiner, H. (2003) Hiring practices in the amusement park industry. Management Research News. Vol. 26 Iss: 2/3/4, pp.20 – 26. Published by MCB UP Ltd
Bennett, Wayne; Hess, Karen and Hess, Karen. (2006) Management & Supervision in Law Enforcement. 5th Edition. Cengage ISBN 9780495093411.
Lord, B., Joseph B., Paul C. Friday, (2009). Small city community policing and citizen satisfaction, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management. Vol. 32 Iss: 4, pp.574 – 594. Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Mathis, Robert L, and John J. (1991). Personnel/Human Resource
Management. Sixth Edition. St. Paul: West Publishing Company.
