Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
When presenting at such a large conference, as Traci Tauferner ATC and Kate Koop, Esq and I did on October 16th, the sincere hope is that the topic is timely. A goal is to get the intended audience thinking about the future direction of the topic being presented. It is imperative to catch the audience’s attention right out of the gate, or else they won’t stick around.
Our topic was “Physical Abilities Testing- Staying on the “Safe” Side of Law Enforcement”. Kate did an awesome job captivating our audience with the statement that they could legally incorporate physical demands testing in a variety of ways to assure a capable police force-so long as the tenants of employment law are being met (specifically the ADA and Title VII). She then shared legal cases and outcomes to support her position. Kate was very effective in her presentation of the legal cases, issues and facts.
I followed with an introduction to content validity based testing (in comparison to criterion validity based testing) as an approach to address several hot topics- concerns regarding disparate impact on female officer candidates being one. Another being the need to attract more individuals to the profession and not have willing candidates excluded by testing that is often difficult to convince candidates or police officers that it is “job related and consistent with business necessity”.Some video from a recent newscast in Madison, WI brought home some of these points very nicely.
Traci Tauferner brought it all together with some poignant return to work cases. Her ability to assist officers after injury/illness using a content valid approach as a guide proves very successful. It is clear that she engages at a high level of understanding regarding the nature of police work and gains trust which leads to returning officers to work safely, confidently and expediently.
Importantly, the three of us were able to share the outcomes of a legal case that we each had a role in: Marshfield Police Protective Association (MPPA), Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA) and City of Marshfield. The City was able to successfully defend a critical portion of a fit for duty test that was based on content validity. This is a small step towards that which should be ongoing: challenging processes and procedures. It is from these challenges that advancements occur. What this case and our presentation will ultimately lead to is unwritten. However, if the size of our audience and the fact that the three of us took questions for at least an hour after our presentation is any indication, change is needed and desired.
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