Many have suspected it, but it is actually an official federal court ruling: police departments deliberately avoid hiring applicants with high IQ scores. But now there, is a sample test that shows some of the questions cops are required to answer in order to determine that IQ.
Critics of law enforcement have long suggested that police officers tend to be selected for their lack of critical thinking, but news that department hiring processes officially disqualify high-scoring applicants might still come as a shock to many.
While a rare exception to the rule might slip through the cracks, if you are too smart, police departments simply wont hire you.
This policy became solidified in a federal ruling dating back almost a decade and a half ago. The ruling came with little fanfare from the mainstream, corporate media, who didnt apparent find it to be newsworthy.
In 1999, a Federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by an applicant to the New London, Connecticut police department who was barred from being hired after successfully taking the intelligence portion of the police examinations. The disqualification came because he had scored too high on the test. The New London Police Department made it clear that they did not want the bottom of the barrel when it came to intelligence, but they also didnt want anyone who was too smart either.
This little-known ruling was made public back in September of the same year. Judge Peter C. Dorsey of the United States District Court in New Haven, Connecticut confirmed that the plaintiff, Robert Jordan, 48, who holds a bachelors degree in literature, had been denied an opportunity to even interview for a job with the department, for no reason other than his high test scores.
Judge Dorsey ruled in favor of the department, saying that Mr. Jordan was offered no protection under the law in this case. There is no legal protection given to intelligent people from discriminatory hiring practices by individual police departments, Dorsey explained. The judge continued, explaining that police departments held all applicants to this same standard and thus they rejected all applicants who scored high. As a result, this could not be held as discriminatory in nature.
So what sort of questions do prospective cops have to answer on police exams? One sample test was sent to us from tests.com. It has 31 questions, including: simple math, vocabulary, spelling and usage of words, reading comprehension and memory. Check out some of the examples below:
Officer Smith often works as a drug-use prevention officer in the local public schools. He visits three schools a week, 40 weeks out of the year. How many schools does he visit in a year?
a. 100
b. 110
c. 120
d. 13
Identify the misspelled word in the following sentence: The surprising news anemated the conversation amongst the group.
a. surprising
b. anemated
c. conversation
d. amongst
The witness said that ______ staying at a local motel.
a. their
b. theyre
c. there
d. None of the above.
There were five ____________ to the crime.
a. witnesss
b. witness
c. witnesses
d. witness
What term is the same in meaning as the word underlined in the following sentence?
The victims arm was lacerated in the accident.
a. cut
b. broken
c. pulverized
d. folded
The next time you cross paths with a law enforcement officer and wonder how anyone so stupid managed to get hired by their department, now you know that this stupidity might in fact be the very thing that qualified them for the job.