Report 2021-105 Recommendation 11 Responses

Report 2021-105: Law Enforcement Departments Have Not Adequately Guarded Against Biased Conduct (Release Date: April 2022)

Recommendation #11 To: Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of

To better assess whether peace officer applicants have the ability to work with diverse members of their communities and whether they possess detectable disqualifying biases, by no later than October 2022 CDCR should begin conducting standardized interviews of officer applicants that include questions designed to assess their experience working with diverse communities and their ability to do so effectively.

6-Month Agency Response

POSED/The Office of Peace Officer Selection (OPOS) already utilizes structured interviews during its background investigative process, including Pre-Investigatory Interview, Computerized Voice Stress Analyzer, and Discrepancy interview where questions are designed to identify individual tolerance working with diverse communities. OPOS will work with the State Personnel Board, the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (CPOST), OLA, OLR, and HR to address any conflicts with labor agreements and merit-based hiring process provisions to address this recommendation of adding questions related to potential biases of applicants when working with diverse communities.

6-Month Update: OPOS has added the necessary questions into our background investigation process to address, document, and assess an applicant's experience to effectively work with diverse communities. These changes were fully implemented September 2022, during the annual training for Background Investigation Unit investigators.

Supporting documentation will be provided, per CSA's direction.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

CDCR provided its updated background investigative procedures, which CDCR has updated to include a set of interview questions that align with POST's interview factors. One of the questions appears designed to assess the applicant's ability to work with diverse communities. CDCR has also included additional questions in its background questionnaires to solicit information on past biased conduct by applicants.

60-Day Agency Response

POSED/The Office of Peace Officer Selection (OPOS) already utilizes structured interviews during its background investigative process, including Pre-Investigatory Interview, Computerized Voice Stress Analyzer, and Discrepancy interview where questions are designed to identify individual tolerance working with diverse communities. OPOS will work with the State Personnel Board, the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (CPOST), OLA, OLR, and HR to address any conflicts with labor agreements and merit-based hiring process provisions to address this recommendation of adding questions related to potential biases of applicants when working with diverse communities.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

As we discuss in the report, a structured interview provides several benefits to assessing a candidate's ability to work with diverse individuals, such as freedom from social and ethnic prejudices and sensitivity to and acceptance of differences based on demographic background. We will consider this recommendation fully implemented when CDCR has implemented a structured interview that incorporates specific questions targeted at assessing these qualities in its applicants.

All Recommendations in 2021-105

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.