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is a need not to just identify those traits, but also identify traits of those officers

considered high performers.

Another area that seems to be lacking is establishment of a concise and consistent

set of criteria for evaluation of what truly defines a quality peace officer. Each agency,

whether it be United States Customs and Border protection operations along the border

with Mexico, or a three-officer department in a small town in Iowa, will all have their

own criteria. A critical component of developing that evaluation process is identifying

and establishing the character traits that are consistently present in low and high

performing officers (Government Accountability Office, 2018).

Dr. Robin Inwald has developed personality inventories related to police

emotional intelligence or suitability for employment along with other researchers such as

Dr. Eric Ostrov (Inwald, 1988). This work can be refined to meet today’s needs. Dr.

Inwald is the author of the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPV) and an updated version

Inwald Personality Inventory – 2 (IPV-2). They are standardized tests to identify traits

and personality variances, both of which are used extensively in the assessment of law

enforcement candidates (Inwald & Shusman, 1984). Dr. Ostrov is a licensed clinical

psychologist who holds a doctorate in forensic psychology and is also a practicing

attorney. In addition to his work conducting hundreds of psychological assessments

related to litigation, he focuses on identification of law enforcement traits and the

development of psychological screening standards for police applicants (Ostrov, 2013)