Psychological Model of Professional Fitness for Investigative Activities

Abstract

The research work was aimed at developing the criteria for identifying candidates' professional fitness for operational services of law enforcement. The sample comprised of 114 internal affairs officers (with 2 or more years of service). Research methods: standardized method of personality research, psychophysiological techniques; in order to evaluate an operational officer's professional effectiveness on the basis of a factor analysis of 55 behavioral qualities of an operative noted by immediate supervisors, the professional profile of the employee including the following factors was developed: ‘professional level’, ‘proneness to conflict’, ‘physical development’, ‘availability’, ‘self-control’, and ‘intelligence’. The primary goal was to identify the ‘professional level’ factor using psychodiagnostic parameters. This task was accomplished through multiple linear regression analysis. With the help of adjacency matrix of expert evaluation and predictive index of regression, the identification accuracy was assessed. It turned out to be high when identifying the high expert evaluation through testing. The model developed is only intended for selecting the best operational officers.