Abstract

Due to the essential and powerful role police officers play within the communities they serve, systematic racism in law enforcement has become a key topic of public discourse, including increased demand for evidence-based changes in police selection. This includes recommendations or requirements to assess implicit bias in police candidates (e.g., California Assembly Bill 846). Implicit bias refers to the spontaneous/automatic associations or evaluations made of members of a particular group (Kim & Roberson, 2021). The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training’s (POST’s) Bias Assessment Framework provides recommendations to police psychologists on the assessment of implicit bias, but curiously does not include implicit bias assessment measures. Several such measures exist (e.g., Implicit Association Test, Affect Misattribution Procedure, Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure); however, concerns regarding the construct validity and other psychometric properties of these measures have been raised. The aim of this systematic review was to identify, evaluate and synthesize contemporary research findings on the assessment of implicit biases to determine what measures are currently available, their psychometric properties, and appropriateness for police populations. This review highlights the critical disparity between acceptable psychometric properties used in research versus hiring settings and the limited generalizability of existing measures to police personnel. Policy implications, practice and future research directions are discussed.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Discrimination in law enforcement—United States; Racism in law enforcement—United States; Police psychology—United States

Date of Award

2025

School Affiliation

Graduate School of Education and Psychology

Department/Program

Psychology

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate

Faculty Advisor

Stephanie Woo

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