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Book Review: Personality Assessment in Police Psychology

Posted: February 6, 2015 in Books
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Weiss

Book review of “Personality Assessment in Police Psychology.”

I have to admit, I had no intention of reading this book in one sitting, in fact, I was only really going to read about half of the essays in this collection of essays.  I have to admit I was invited to write a chapter in this book but really couldn’t write on the topic assigned.  And may I tell you, I also need to admit I have known this editor since he was a grad student and I even know personally he is a very good golfer besides editing a book, so I am sort of attached to this young man.    I do not have to admit that the topic was not remotely interesting to me when I heard of the book originally, but I became completely engaged in it after reading only the first essay, and in fact, ended up reading the whole damn thing.  This book is definitely something to keep around awhile.

When you start reading Personality Assessment in Police Psychology: A 21st Century Perspective  (Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd  June 14, 2010,  Peter A. Weiss, Editor), you are hit in the face with a history of the personality testing in law enforcement written by Peter Weiss, the editor, and Robin Inwald.  Gee, I think I’ve heard her name before.  The history section held a lot of surprises for me.  Some of the names of the early pioneers like Joe Fabricatore and Jim Shaw were people I met originally when I came to join the organizations in the field, and people that accepted me with open arms.  I didn’t realize they were so impactful and important in building the profession.  The history of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology, the APA Division 18 and the IACP Police Psych Services Section all had one or two things that I didn’t know about.  But the real history that surprised me was the history of personality testing for Law Enforcement populations.  Some of this history was downright enlightening, and the presentation was very good, and more than that, it was written in a style that made sense on the first read through which is often difficult when writing history.  That is worth the price of admission, but there is so much more here.

In the articles, you hear various professionals in our field give their view of certain tests, or processes, and at the end, some unusual situations where personality testing was important in police psychology.    For example, John (Jack) Jones wrote a brilliant piece on integrity testing in pre-offer that was a combination of history, education and a how-to article.  It was well-written for the consumer and gave practical advice.  It promoted a bifurcated model of testing with testing for issues like integrity and conscientiousness pre-offer, and testing for pathology post-conditional offer.  It was excellent and got me thinking about specifics of the whole pre-offer-post offer paradigm that is out-front since the ADA laws.

Then there was Mike Aamodt’s article on the meta-analysis of the various types of testing for Law Enforcement candidates.  Now I will preface this by saying Mike Aamodt is one of the best presenters I have ever seen in police psychology, and his research makes some of the most sense of anyone I have ever read in all police psychology.  He has a way about him that makes the most intricate principles simple, the most esoteric ideas commonplace, and the most convoluted concepts sequential.  He starts off his article by saying we are not predicting whether a person is good on the job, we are predicting supervisors ratings when the person is on the job – right to the root of what is going on.  Then he goes on to show evidence that psychologists are not good at connecting pathology predictions from a test to supervisors’ ratings of job performance.  Further stating that even with predictors of normal personality, only a few scales have significant level of predictive significance, for example the tolerance scale on the CPI is a good predictor of supervisor ratings.  Mike Aamodt is a brilliant man and his inclusion in this wonderful collection of essays was very important.

There are other essays by authors like Eric Ostrov on using multiple sources of information, JoAnne Brewster, Philip Wickline and Mike Stoloff on the use of the Rorschach in personality testing with Law Enforcement screenings,  Cary Rostov and Bob Davis on the M-Pulse, Gerald Serafino on fundamental issues, and of course Peter Weiss’ own father, the ex-editor of the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, William Weiss.

Faults with the book?  Damn, I can’t think of many.  The essays cover the topic well, they are interesting, there is some new stuff here, and where needed they are well researched.  If there is s a fault, I would suggest the history article has some bias toward telling history with a little angle, but this is not a big thing.  This is a good book with a lot of good information.

So, try to get a copy of Personality Assessment in Police Psychology: A 21st Century Perspective.   You will find it worth your time and no matter what level you are at you will learn a lot.   It is a wonderful reference to add to your library.

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Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP

For books by Dr. Gary S. Aumiller got to www.myherodad.com or www.myheromom.com

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Book Review: A Handbook for Psychological Fitness-For-Duty Evaluations in Law Enforcement

Posted: January 22, 2015 in Books
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Rostow

Book review of “A Handbook for Psychological Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations in Law Enforcement.”

Cary Rostow asked me to review his book and I thought “no problem.”  It was a supposedly a Handbook on Fitness for Duty Examinations.  So I figured it would be a short, little boring thing with a lot of statistics, but I will slog through it and write something inane up for the membership.  Now I know realize this book is a terrible task.  It is about the most thorough treatise on a subject I could ever imagine.  Rostow and Davis went into such painstaking detail to cover every possible area on the subject of Fitness for Duty Examinations and then some.  I found myself getting angry at them that I had to read so much, and at the same time they brought the subject to life in a way that few could.  I had to read large sections at a time because I couldn’t put it down.  Handbook my arse – a handbook is supposed to be a short little “how to” thing that comes with your fancy-dansy cappuccino maker.  What kind of time do they think I have for these book reviews?

For example, the first section on the history of policing and police psychology.  Why would anyone include something like this in a handbook on Fitness for Duty Examinations?  It was fascinating to hear about the police movements in this country and the different stages of police reform.  And about police psychology and….okay, I couldn’t put it down!  But why include something so interesting in a book intended to be dry and hard to read.  I just don’t understand it.  Have they no respect for how busy I am?

They talk about developing a Fitness for Duty System, and making decision on how a Fitness for Duty will be performed.  They give the reasons why to do a Fitness for Duty and the misuses.  They go through the reasons for a fitness for duty examination, the types of recommendations, types of test, predictive validity – the stuff of handbooks, except give this one 5 stars for thoroughness in each of these areas.  Then they get really interesting again going into the fitness for duty in forensic situations such as dealing with HIPAA laws, expert witnessing, the Family Medical Leave Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and the American with Disabilities Act.  These chapters are really good and bring the understanding about what employment law is all about.  Throughout the book they give examples of Fitness for Duty cases that will make you read them a couple of times because you have to think about them.  I didn’t want to think reading a handbook, but this book really got me.  Attach the “whosit” to the “whatsit,” turn button “A” and steam the milk for the cappuccino. That’s what I wanted.  What is this thinking stuff?

But the area where they shine the most is in the conclusions and reflections.  It is a short little chapter at the end, but it is loaded with thought provoking information.  It is really a great overview of future directions with the insight of people at the top of the field.

So, if you want to ruin about 3 days of your life reading a “handbook” that reads surprisingly interesting, pick up A Handbook for Psychological Fitness for Duty Examinations in Law Enforcement by Cary D. Rostow, Ph.D. and Robert D. Davis, Ph.D.  The publisher is The Hawthorne Press but it should be published by Gideon and sit in every “hotel room” where psychologists practice.

I think I’ll go make a cappuccino now!

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Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP

For books by Dr. Gary Aumiller go to  www.myherodad.com  or  www.myheromom.com

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Book Review: Crisis Negotiations: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections

Posted: January 15, 2015 in Books
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crisis negotiations

Book Review: “Crisis Negotiations: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections”

I have been honored to give keynote addresses at a couple conferences for the Texas Hostage Negotiators and the FBI Crisis Teams and found them to be a very different type of cop.  They are humble but at the same time show a lot of confidence.  They have a way of expressing themselves that lets you know they know what they are talking about.  And unlike many cops, they didn’t exaggerate their stories, because they could keep them interesting without having to.  You see, hostage and crisis negotiation has all the drama and plot twists that make a good story without any embellishments or liberties.  They are always attentive audiences and I hear from them for months later about how they apply what I talked to them about.  And they have tremendous respect for psychologists.  I love them.  And, besides they had the best barbecue parties of anywhere I have gone to speak, once you get past the Lone Star beer.

To understand the reverence Texas negotiators hold for psychologists, one needs to go no further than to look at the psychologists who have trained them for years.  Two of the most important are Drs. Wayman Mullins and Michael McMains and they have authored a book called Crisis Negotiations: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections.  This is a book that trains the Hostage/Crisis negotiator from start to finish – a little about the history of negotiations, setting up teams, dealing with a variety of situations, handling tactical vs. operational/negotiation teams, handling the stress of a negotiation during and after an incident, and generally handling every aspect of a police response from start to finish.  Make no mistake, this book is a complete textbook that leaves no stone unturned.  Each chapter starts with learning objectives, then goes to stories, incidents and techniques, gives you references up the wazoo, and finally completes with exercises.  By the time you finish the first chapter you know what the Stockholm syndrome is, you learn of the history of hostage negotiation in war, you learn about prison sieges, and you are introduced to the language used in the book.  Each chapter after that follows suit, goes from general principle to individual technique as if an individual paper to stand alone.  I particularly found the chapters on negotiating with emotionally disturbed individuals, gathering intelligence, and negotiating within prisons vs. the public sectors very poignant as they describe clear cut how-to models to guide your negotiation.  Although I must admit, all the chapters had a quality that defines them as top of the field.

If you are in a position to train a negotiation team or become part of crisis negotiations, this book is the standard.  It is the Grey’s Anatomy of negotiations and a must read for any psychologist in this type of operational function or planning to get into crisis negotiations.  It is also a good standard to read for psychologists, particularly police psychologists, doing therapy with police officers as one never knows when one might be in a position of having to talk to a suicidal officer with a gun.   I would even suggest it to psychologists working with officers that might be on this special assignment as it really gives great insight into the process of a negotiation and what the officer might deal with after a negotiation that has gone down bad.  McMains and Mullins have made this text very complete and thorough and easy enough to understand and follow as a guide.  There really is no better book in the field of crisis and hostage negotiations.

And if you contact them they may even give you their barbecue recipes.  This might just get you in the right mood while you read.

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Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP

For books by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. go to    www.myherodad.com or www.myheromom.com

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Book Review: “Psychological Aspects of Crisis Negotiation”

Posted: January 8, 2015 in Books
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Thomas Strenz

Book Review: An evaluation of Thomas Strenz’s hostage negotiation methodology in “Psychological Aspects of Crisis Negotiation”

What hits you first is the organization of the material.  When I read Psychological Aspects of Crisis Negotiation by Thomas Strenz (Taylor and Francis Publishers, Boca Raton, Fla. 2006), I didn’t expect to see what I saw.  I guess I expected another rehashing of hostage negotiation materials, but what I got was the structure of a thought process that really could be very useful to anyone in operational psychology.  In fact, it was organized more like a manual, than a book of descriptions of hostage situations and outcomes.  For that reason, this is a book you may want to look to adding to your library.

Thomas Strenz has taught hostage negotiations at the FBI academy, and work with the FBI gov.  He was introduced to the Society by Wayman Mullins (quite a name himself in this field) and just fascinated the group with his hostage negotiations mini-seminar.  Reading his book is a little like his seminar, except to see the material in a manual format makes it come more alive and gives the reader confidence that they know where to go for answers if ever they find themselves negotiating for the lives of others.  What Strenz did was simple, but sometimes simplicity alludes writers of material in this field.  He organized material to make it useful even at the scene of a hostage situation.  He also places a great value on the mental health professional in a hostage situation, as the mental health professional helps determine what you are dealing with and how to proceed.   Okay, this is not new, but remember this book is not written by a police psychologist, or anyone else in the mental health field; it is written by a negotiator. (more…)

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