Jonathan Lough is a psychologist and independent research consultant inMelbourne, Australia. He specialises in research design, analysis and statistics, survey writing and psychological assessment. Over the last ten years he has worked with a range of private and government clients, including ANZ Bank, Clemenger BBDO and the Australian Institute of Forensic Psychology. Prior to establishing Lough Research Services, he was a research psychologist at Monash University, working in the area of public safety and injury prevention. Michael Ryan has been the manager of psychology services in Tasmania Police for over 13 years. Based in Hobart, he is also the clinical consultant to the Tasmanian emergency services critical incident stress management programme. Prior to that, he worked with Queensland Health as a clinical psychologist and director of allied health services for 17 years.
ABSTRACTThe current study expands upon the authors' previous work. The performance of two groups of Tasmania Police constables was evaluated after their first three years of employment. Group membership was a function of initial selection process -one group undertook detailed psychological profiling as part of their pre-employment testing, and the other group did not. The screened group consistently outperformed the non-screened group, with three of the differences statistically significant. Additionally, the screened group had a lower dropout rate, and were less likely to make serious on-the-job errors resulting in formal disciplinary action or investigation. Implications for applied practice, and further research and development are also discussed.