Built in are several validity scales and clinical scales, Morris said. The MMPI is a true/false test with about 500 questions. 'The least desirable in the norm group were functioning in the department in a minimally acceptable level,' Morris pointed out. We found, specifically, correlations between desirable traits and low scores.'Д«ased on that control group, the department devised the four scoring ranges. 'I think you find a very wide range (of behaviors among officers),' Morris said of the differences between the officers.ДЄfter tests of the control group those with desirable traits were scored, Morris said, 'we found certain profiles on the MMPI. In the 1975 study to test effectiveness of both tests, police commanders selected 100 officers they felt exhibited traits desirable for an officer and 100 officers they felt exhibited undesirable traits. Any applicant whose score falls into the third and fourth ranges is refused, he said. If the applicant's score is in the first and second ranges, the applicant can continue to pursue a police career, Morris said. The lower the test score, the more desirable the applicant, he said. Test results fall into one of four ranges devised in a 1975 study, Morris said. The department's testing and scoring methods were devised in 1975, when a new state law required departments to administer psychological tests to applicants, Morris said. Keefe said he did not sue for a monetary award, but hoped to force officials to take another look at the testing procedure. Thus, Groves said, the testing could not have detected the alleged psychological disorder. Keefe's attorney, Eric Groves, said the department's method of testing potential officers is based on behavioral, not psychological patterns. Earlier this month, the Oklahoma City Council awarded Keefe a $6,500, out-of-court settlement. Keefe claimed he was falsely arrested and assaulted by former officer Mark Spangenberg and subsequently sued the city.

Thomas Keefe claimed the arresting officer had a mental disorder and should not have been hired by the city. The department's use of the two tests and its scoring method have been criticized recently by an attorney for an Oklahoma City minister who was arrested in September, 1980. 'Given the state of the art, we (psychologists) are still unable to be as accurate as we would like.

'It's a rough screening device and nothing more,' Gilliland said. Kirby Gilliland, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oklahoma, said errors occur in almost any situation in which psychological tests are administered. 'You screen some in you shouldn't and screen some out you shouldn't.' Dr. 'We know that all tests have an error rate,' he said. Those who don't are barred from application.Д«ut despite predetermined cut-off points, Morris said it is difficult to accurately predict which applicants will make suitable police officers because both tests have a margin of error. Those who pass both continue through the application process, which requires a background check, a polygraph test and a final review. The tests, generally respected in psychology circles, are the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the Otis Test of Mental Abilities. In the first phase of a four-part application process, a prospective Oklahoma City police officer takes two tests designed to measure his psychological makeup.

Those tests have recently come under increasing fire. Hoyt Morris, psychologist for the Oklahoma City Police Department, says of tests designed to determine whether a man who claims he wants to be a cop should indeed be allowed to wear a badge. 'What's normal and abnormal it all gets blurred,' Dr.

Mmpi test oklahoma