March
2007
Cannot Understand the Law I have to Enforce
The Police is understaffed and trying to recruit local cadets. Turns out the people applying don’t have the reading skills to become police officers. Kind of scary that of all the possible options, the point of failure is “reading comprehension” for somebody who is supposed to enforce scores of written laws.
Good to see that the Chief of Police is not contemplating lowering the standard.
(Original found here.)
Young police recruits struggle to pass exam
by Erin Miller
West Hawaii Today
Saturday, March 17, 2007 9:48 AM HSTResponse to the Police Department’s youth cadet program has been good, but academic difficulties may keep some candidates out of the program.
Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna said Friday the department received more than 100 applications for the program, which is set to begin this summer.
The scoring of applications isn’t finished, but among applicants who failed the entrance exam, reading comprehension was a “major issue,” Mahuna told Police Commissioners at their monthly meeting.
Cadet applicants who were unable to finish the test in the allotted amount of time struggled with understanding what they read, he added. Other components of the test include following logical progression, analytical thinking and math skills.
“Do you ever have meetings with teachers, to let them know we pass the students who can’t read?” Commissioner Karolyn Lundkvist asked Mahuna. “To correct that, it seems we could start with some kind of forum for the teachers.”
Mahuna said doesn’t think blaming teachers or the state’s Department of Education is the right approach.
“It’s not so much that they don’t recognize the problem,” he said. “The problems arise with behavior management, the inordinate amount of time spent doing that and it disrupts the rest of the class.”
Mahuna said he did not anticipate lessening the test’s difficulty level, because to become police officers, applicants must have at least a high school diploma or its equivalent. One goal of the cadet program is to help the cadets become full-fledged police officers when they are old enough to apply.
Mahuna said after the meeting that some of the applicants taking the test were still in high school and haven’t completed their education.
Commissioner Anita Politano Steckel said members of the public might push for education reform — if they knew students were unable to pass tests like the Police Department’s entrance exam.
“We can’t get people to pass a rather ordinary [exam],” Politano Steckel said. “I hope this gets out and you get the public excited.”
Commission Chairwoman Pudding Lassiter told Lundkvist to pursue a forum with police, school and community representatives to discuss the problem.
The youth cadet program is part of the department’s ongoing recruiting drive to fill vacancies. The department has openings for 43 sworn officers and 17 civilian employees.