Peace Officer Psychological Screening Manual

The POST Peace Officer Psychological Screening Manual provides guidance on all phases and aspects of the psychological evaluation process, from the selection and training of screening psychologists, to procedures for reaching a suitability determination and beyond. This guidance is intended to clarify and provide support on the conduct of pre-employment peace officer psychological evaluations in compliance with federal and state law, regulations, and professional standards. Although much of the information in the Manual is intended for screening psychologists, a number of sections are equally, and in some cases, more relevant, to hiring authorities and others involved in peace officer hiring.

Publication

The Manual is formatted for, and may be printed, two-sided (back-to-back). Hyperlinks throughout the online Manual allow for easy access to many of the referenced codes, regulations, and other source documents. The Adobe Acrobat bookmark feature can be used to navigate through the Manual. These features work best when the Manual is accessed as a saved pdf file.

(NOTE: Using Google Chrome to view the Manual online produces blank pages; therefore it is recommended that you download the Manual to a file or use a different browser to access the Manual online.)

• Download the Psychological Screening Manual (pdf), or
• Order a printed, color copy of the Manual from the FedEx DocStore

Sample Forms

• Sample Psychological Screening Manual Forms (pdf)

Psychologist CPE Training

Screening psychologists earn 8 hours of POST continuing professional education (CPE) and CPA-approved CE by successfully completing the required online examination on the Manual’s content (see Bulletin 2018-38 (pdf)). The CPE hours count toward satisfying Commission Regulation 1955(b) that requires peace officer screening psychologists to accrue 12 hours of POST-approved CPE biennially.