Nearly two dozen applicants to Pittsburgh’s police academy were rejected from the city’s May recruit class after failing a psychological screening. But they’re getting a second chance this week, as the city works to determine if the rejections reflect a flawed screening process, or are simply the result of a bad batch of candidates.
“As we review the records, we’re not quite sure why they were [dismissed],” said Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt. “That’s why we asked for another group [of psychologists] to come in just to kind of give a litmus test.”
But the decision to toss out the original results has some police accountability advocates worried the bureau could be lowering its standards amid an ongoing staffing crisis. Pittsburgh is budgeted to have 850 officers, but numbers have dwindled to below 740 officers as of this spring.
That by itself should not prompt the city to re-screen officers who have been deemed unfit, said Beth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board.
“It’s like doctor-shopping,” Pittinger said. “Why are we doing that? … Is it because we’re desperate and we’re trying to find people?”
The 23 failed applicants would have been part of the newest class of recruits, which began training at the city's police academy on Monday. Only 15 candidates made it through to the academy, including three who were previously officers in other departments. Since most of the current crop of applicants failed the psychological screening, Schmidt said the city is looking at other municipalities to determine whether Pittsburgh needs to update its process.
“When we saw that higher fail rate, we were a little concerned as to what's happening and why,” he said. He added the review would involve “a discussion around how much input we have, versus an independent group of psychologists that may not follow what other parts of the state follow.”
Schmidt said the city should “modernize” its decades-old recruitment process to ensure questions don’t erroneously weed out good candidates.
The current screening process can involve up to two rounds of interviews and three separate psychologists, Schmidt said. If a candidate is deemed unfit by the first psychologist, they are interviewed again by a second psychologist. If the second psychologist deems the candidate fit for the job, a third psychologist is brought in to reconcile the two evaluations and make a final decision.
The city is under contract with six doctors qualified to provide psychological screenings in accordance with the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission.
It not yet clear how the process could change after the current group is retested, or whether officials feel any of the psychologists' questions are problematic.
Schmidt did not provide information about the race, age or gender of the 23 candidates. And he said city officials did not have a complete list of the interview questions being posed to them.
But a WPXI report claimed one of the screening questions asked whether a candidate owned or rented their home, and Schmidt did allude to the possibility that some of the questions could be outdated.
“There seems to be some questions that are asked that probably don't match the culture of the past decade around … homeownership, [and] just general behavior around alcohol,” he said.
Pittinger acknowledged that parts of the recruitment process have not been updated in years, and suggested new safeguards might be helpful. But she argued that the city should be careful about second-guessing the psychologists it contracts with.
“You’re talking about something that’s more of an art and a science,” she said. “The psychologist is supposed to know how to do this.”
Pittinger recalled an example from the early aughts when the city retested an officer who failed a psychological exam. The city hired Adam Skewres as an officer after he appealed the results of his first exam and passed on his second try. He was later convicted of coercing sexual favors from women while on duty and sentenced to prison.
“The psychologists were right on that with that guy,” Pittinger said. “How do we know that they're wrong with these guys?"
Many municipalities allow officers to appeal their exam determinations. But Pittinger warned the city could see history repeat itself if it adopts lower standards for psychological fitness.
Schmidt dismissed the notion that additional testing will result in unfit candidates sneaking through.
“We’re not lowering standards,” he argued. “We want to make sure the standards are fair and equitable.”
If any of the applicants make it through the additional screenings, they are expected to begin their training in June.
State grant could help improve recruitment tactics
Meanwhile, the city’s Bureau of Police is set to receive a $315,000 grant to help strengthen its recruitment efforts. On Tuesday, City Council unanimously approved the grant which will support a team of officers charged with mentoring new recruits.
“The idea behind this is from the time they apply they'll get matched up with a mentor within the bureau,” Schmidt said. “And they will have constant contact with them to make sure we're giving them the tools they need to successfully enter the academy.”
The bureau has already assembled a team of officers who will more regularly be involved in the recruitment process. Schmidt says that’s a change from the current procedure where the bureau solicits volunteers before a recruitment push.
A mentor could help keep recruits on the right track as they make their way through the 18-month process to become a city cop, according to Police Chief Larry Scirotto, who has backed the approach since becoming chief. He told City Council members during a meeting last week that other cities have seen success with a mentoring program.
“What you see happen is people get very discouraged throughout the process or fall off,” Scirotto said. He argued a formalized mentorship program could give recruits that needed encouragement.
The grant will allow the bureau to buy a vehicle, tents and other materials for the recruitment team as well as promotional materials and advertisements.
Officials point to stronger recruitment efforts as one strategy to bring on bigger recruit classes. Prior to the pandemic, the city’s recruit classes averaged roughly 80 trainees. The most recent class graduated in March with 24 officers, and the May class has just 15.
