After a month-long search, Middleton found a company that offered a structured interview format in which a specially trained, three-person panel of community stakeholders, residents, and police officers would ask applicants the same seven pre-scripted questions, many about race relations. The test was labor intensive, with an interview time of 30 minutes per applicant, which meant 25 hours of interviews. However, the upside was clear: Questions on the test would provide the interview panel with a better idea how an applicant would respond to a situation encountered as an officer in Shaker. Middleton and DeMuth presented the test option to the Civil Service Commission last September and it was approved, making the SHPD the first police agency in the state to use a structured interview test for new officer candidates. The police department announced a call for applicants in November and was hopeful the new test would provide better insights into the candidates. About 75 applicants responded to the call, many of them lining up at City Hall at midnight on the day applications were accepted. “We were getting people in the door, but we didn’t know if we had the right SHAKER LIFE | SPRING 2017 41 people taking the test,” DeMuth says. The department assembled the interview panels, which included residents, Shaker Schools officials, and police officers, trained them on the process, and set off to answer the Chief’s lingering question. the most diverse, multi-skilled police force possible. So last year, DeMuth reached out to the City’s Human Resource Manager, Sandra Middleton, for help in finding a test that would provide a better measure of a candidate’s emotional maturity to handle police work. “An applicant might be good at math, but that’s not always a skill that will translate to being a good police officer. We wanted to learn about an applicant’s practical police skills,” explains Middleton. “We need quick thinkers, critical thinkers, and applicants who could make good decisions under pressure. And they needed to have solid communication skills because we want officers who can engage with the community.”
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