Law Enforcement Assessment Center
As a leader in law enforcement training and support services, Dirigo Safety is proud to offer its Supervisory Assessment Centers, designed to help officers assess their skills, knowledge, and capabilities as they prepare for promotion or advancement. Our Assessment Centers are not a place to take a test but a comprehensive testing process that evaluates candidates’ performance in real-life scenarios.
What Is A Law Enforcement Officer Assessment Center?
An Assessment Center is a process in which candidates participate in a series of systematic, job-related, real-life situations while being observed and evaluated by experts in policing, supervision, and management. Trained evaluators, called “assessors,” observe candidates individually and in groups performing exercises and scenarios that simulate actual working conditions in a law enforcement agency. The goal of these assessments is to identify and evaluate a candidate’s critical success factors and traits that are necessary for success in a supervisory or leadership role.
Assessment Center Evaluation Criteria
The critical success factors or testing dimensions used in our Assessment Centers are based on the specific knowledge, skills, behaviors, and characteristics that are important for a successful career in law enforcement supervision and management. These may include, but are not limited to:
Supervision
Management and Administration: Knowledge of concepts and theories relative to police supervision, management, and administration.
Oral Communication
Effective expression when presenting ideas to an individual or group (includes non-verbal communication).
Written Communication
Clear expression of ideas in writing and use of correct form.
Planning and Organizing
Establishing a course of action for self and/or others to achieve organizational goals; maintaining appropriate records; use of computer resources.
Control
Acting to coach, monitor, evaluate, and correct job tasks, activities, and responsibilities of subordinates.
Environmental Awareness
Managing change. Using knowledge of changing situations and pressures inside and outside of the department to identify potential problems and opportunities.
Organizational Integrity
Action that indicates support for and maintenance of departmental standards, norms, goals, and ethics.
Interpersonal Sensitivity
Actions that indicate attention to the needs, feelings, and expressions of others.
Example Situational Scenarios
Our Assessment Centers include a variety of situational scenarios that simulate actual conditions and situations a law enforcement supervisor might encounter in their daily work. For example, candidates might be asked to respond to a scenario where an officer is on duty with a strong odor of alcohol, is late for work, and is not in uniform. Candidates are evaluated based on their ability to effectively resolve the situation as police supervisors.
In-Basket Exercise
One of the most important exercises in our Assessment Centers is the in-basket exercise. This exercise simulates the day-to-day paperwork that a police supervisor must deal with, including memorandums, written and oral complaints, investigative reports, internal documents, letters, and telephone calls. Candidates are seated together in a room at desks or conference tables and given a manila envelope containing the “in-basket” relevant to a typical supervisor’s work at any department. Candidates are instructed to answer the questions in writing, without any assistance from anyone, including access to the internet. The candidate is given two hours and thirty-five minutes to complete the in-basket exercise.
A Path to Advancement For Officers
At Dirigo Safety, our Assessment Centers are designed to help law enforcement officers assess their skills, knowledge, and capabilities as they prepare for promotion or advancement. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or just starting your career, assessment offers a path towards demonstrating your skills and competence as well as understanding from an objective measure where you can improve and how. These assessments can be a significant factor taken into consideration when evaluating candidates for promotion.
Why Choose Dirigo Safety as your Assessment Center?
Dirigo Safety has been providing law enforcement training and support services since 2016, and our Assessment Centers benefit from the centuries of collective experience our team collectively holds. Our team of experts is highly knowledgeable in policing, supervision, and management and brings a wealth of experience to the table. Our evaluators are trained to observe candidates objectively and accurately, ensuring a fair and comprehensive evaluation of each candidate’s abilities.
Our Assessment Centers are designed to provide a real-life simulation of the job, allowing candidates to demonstrate their critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and interpersonal skills. Our goal is to help identify the strengths and areas for improvement of each candidate in order better to support their development and growth within the department.
We take pride in the quality and thoroughness of our Assessment Centers and our commitment to providing top-notch service and support to our clients. Whether you’re preparing for a promotional examination or seeking to assess the abilities of your current supervisors, Dirigo Safety has the expertise and experience you need to make the most informed decisions.
