Back seat for psychological tests?
Spa official says city may override for police, fire recruits
SARATOGA SPRINGS — After experiencing “a remarkable spate of psych eval failures,” the city’s public safety commissioner wants to be able to override the psychological exams that recruits to the police and fire department are now required to pass.
Commissioner Jim Montagnino said psychologists are determining who he can hire and that several provisional hires have been cast aside because they passed all the benchmarks, but failed the psychological exam that determines mental fitness for the stressful job.
“We sat down and reviewed what the law said,” Montagnino said. “Applying that strictly, you are basically giving a psychologist the veto power over that appointment. The law seems to suggest that there is some discretion involved.”
Montagnino said he would like the psychological exam to be just a consideration, not a determining factor.
“There were a number of conditional appointments and the psychologist flunked the majority of the applicants,” Montagnino said. He also said the recruits passed the written psychological tests but not the psychologist interview, which he called “a subjective analysis” of things like impulse control, judgment and ability to tolerate stress.
Past commissioners are not so sure this is a good idea. Former public safety commissioner Chris Mathiesen, who served on City
Council for six years and is now running for mayor, said he would caution against making that change.
“I would be opposed to any kind of change in how we screen our police and firefighters,” Mathiesen said Wednesday. “I think it has always worked very well. Those are standards we should maintain. It’s harder to get into our department than it is others and that’s OK … They are very well respected in the law enforcement community; and to maintain the level of respect, you need to maintain those standards.”
Former public safety commissioner Robin Dalton, who served in 2020 and 2021, agreed.
“Our high hiring standards are critical in maintaining the integrity of our police and fire departments,” she said. “I cannot think of any reason why we would ever
end psych evaluations as a requirement to be hired. That would be a dangerous and irresponsible decision.”
Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo said that passing a
psychological evaluation is a must for all of his deputies. He said he would not consider suspending the requirement in order to recruit more deputies.
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“It works for us,” Zurlo said Wednesday. “We do a complete background and polygraph and I wouldn’t think of changing that.”
State Police also administer psychological tests, however, a spokeswoman for the police said it’s “just one of the many metrics we use when determining eligibility for a candidate.”
The state’s Professional Policing Act of 2021 requires police to undergo a psychological evaluation “to determine whether the candidate is psychologically fit to perform the essential functions of a police officer.” The assessment, the state law reads, requires “screening for psychopathological
disorders, personality characteristics, and substance abuse problems; use of validated written tests; a interview process [9 NYCRR § 6000.11(b)] and a psychological assessment report and recommendation.” The law does not state that a police candidate would be disqualified if they failed the psychological exam. That the state Department of Criminal Justice said that is determined by each agency.
Montagnino said that he had a “lengthy discussion with civil service about the interpretation of the (state) law and regulations as it regards to the psychological evaluation.” He said the city does a detailed dive into a person’s history including a check on driving, criminal history, credit, education and employment. He said previously they interview the recruits’
relations, neighbors and employers.
“There is a huge month’s long process in screening,” Montagnino said. “The way the system works is if they get though all of that stuff and are on the top of the civil service list, we do an interview. If they do well on the interview then they are given conditional offers of employment. They have to sit for psych eval and physical examination.”
The city’s three-member Civil Service Commission would have to approve the change.
“I wouldn’t make it habitual that a psych eval would be ignored,” Montagnino said. “It never would be ignored. If the reasons for the failure is not something in the recognized wheelhouse of a psychologist and more the bailiwick of the appointing authority, then it’s discretionary.”