Officer psych evaluation process under review

The state agency that licenses law enforcement officers is reviewing requirements surrounding the psychological testing of candidates after discovering that a Houston psychologist was approving mental health evaluations without meeting the potential employee in person, a violation of the group’s standards.

The review comes after the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement raided the office of psychologist Carole Busick earlier this year, following an investigation into allegations that “statutorily required psychological exams were certified to have been conducted, when in fact they had not been completed or failed to meet professionally recognized standards,” according to the agency.

“We are looking at the entire process from start to finish on psychological evaluations,” said Gretchen Grigsby, director of government relations at the agency. The evaluations are given to potential dispatchers, jailers or peace officers.

Busick, who has since been placed on probation by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, had evaluated police officers for approximately 30 years, working with several Houston-area law enforcement agencies.

Lack of instructions

In August, a Harris County grand jury indicted Busick and her husband, Donald Busick, on three felony counts of tampering with a governmental record.

Michael Hinton, who is representing the couple, said Thursday that Busick had voluntarily stopped screening police officers and called TCOLE’s actions “grossly unfair,” explaining that his client never received written instructions to provide faceto-face screenings.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to give her a set of rules she should be testing at the same time they’ve decided she is doing something wrong,” he said. “She got the letter delivered at the same time they were executing the search warrant. It was a little late then.”

Hinton said Busick would perform face-toface screenings when specifically requested by a law enforcement agency or if someone failed the exam. She had performed them with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office after that agency requested them in 2012, he said.

“She would have been glad to comply if she got them earlier, but she didn’t,” he said.

A complaint against Busick is described in a search warrant affidavit first reported in the Texas Tribune.

In the affidavit, Jason Hufstetler, working undercover for TCOLE, wrote that he went to Busick’s practice to investigate a complaint about the screening process.

He walked into Busick’s office on West Main Street seeking a Licensee Psychological and Emotional Health Declaration, or L3.

The investigator was given a copy of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a common personality testing tool, along with questionnaires and tests, according to the affidavit.

‘Tickmarks’

The materials were “well worn,” and had “tickmarks” beside several of the answers, according to the affidavit.

Hufstetler completed the forms — some of which were so old they were difficult to read — and paid a $100 fee but was never asked for a valid ID, the investigator wrote.

Less than five minutes after submitting the forms, he was given an L3 form signed by Busick, even though he never met with her.

“I did not speak with Dr. Carole Busick at any time during my visit,” Hufstetler wrote, in the affidavit.

The Harris County Sheriff ’s Office contracted with Busick exclusively since 2012, said Ryan Sullivan, an agency spokesman, adding that Busick had been paid almost $700,000 to perform evaluations on 1,888 of the department’s approximately 4,000 employees.

Grigbsy said TCOLE is encouraging local agencies to have anyone evaluated by Busick rescreened as a liability protection.

“Ultimately, the liability would fall on them, which is not good for them or public,” she said.

“We want to make sure law enforcement officers who are charged with protecting the public are fully competent to do so,” Grigsby said.

The commission had required face-to-face interviews since at least 2012, she said.

Philip Hilder, a Houston-based attorney, explained that the screening was meant to act as a safeguard, since officers work in a stressful profession.

“There’s a possibility these tests could become relevant in a civil or criminal case’s context,” he said. “The likelihood is remote … but not impossible.”

Margaret O’Brien-Molina, a Metro spokeswoman, said 81 Metro police officers had been screened by Busick, as well as three dispatchers.

Repeat screenings

After news of the TCOLE investigation, the department had decided to have all of the officers and dispatchers rescreened, she said.

The sheriff ’s office also is planning to have some peace officers reevaluated.

“We will surely respond with some revaluations; however, we have yet to determine the extent to which our employees will have to be re-examined,” said Sullivan, the HCSO spokesman.