British police used US geography test to recruit volunteer officers, asking applicants to spell Chattanooga and Cincinnati
Lancashire Special Agent candidates took part in US Geography Quiz
Award-winning officer rejected for volunteer role after bizarre test failed
Test was outsourced to British agency Reed Recruitment who made ‘admin error’
Former Manchester sergeant criticized ‘insane US geography test’
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British police used ‘a crazy American geography test’ to recruit volunteer officers, The Mail on Sunday revealed.
Lancashire Constabulary presented candidates who applied as a special agent, a part-time volunteer role, a list of US cities and asked them to select the wrong spelling.
Applicants were expected to identify the misspelling of Chattanooga, a Tennessee town, which was written with only one “t.” Other US locations mentioned in the question were Sioux Falls in South Dakota, Laramie in Wyoming, and Cincinnati in Ohio. The test is written in American English and uses phrases like ‘vacation’.
The MoS understands that among those rejected from the voluntary role for failing the written test was an award-winning police officer with decades of police experience.
Among those rejected for the voluntary special role of police officer for failing the written test was an award-winning police officer with decades of police experience
Last night Lancashire Constabulary said they had outsourced the test to UK employment agency Reed Recruitment, who sent candidates the wrong test in an ‘administrative error’.
Brendan O’Brien, a former sergeant in the Greater Manchester Police Department and founder of police recruiting training firm Bluelight Consultancy, criticized police for allowing candidates to pass “a crazy American geography test.”
He told the MoS, “It’s irrelevant to a position in a police force in this country.”
Chris Farrell, another police recruiting trainer, told the MoS, “Police forces are missing out on potentially highly qualified officers by using automated tests like this.”
the test is written in American English and uses phrases like ‘vacation’
Lancashire Constabulary’s vacancy for potential Special Constables, which closed on May 22, told hopefuls they should “display a high level of attention to detail”.
Last night Lancashire Constabulary said: ‘We will be contacting all candidates affected by this so that they can retake the correct test.’
A spokesperson for Reed said: “We are sorry this has happened and we are in touch with the small number of candidates this has affected.”