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Sydney police recruits fail ethics test


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Recruits fail ethics test

 

Exclusive by Lisa Davies

 

January 25, 2007 12:00

Article from: The Daily Telegraph

 

 

ALMOST three-quarters of the state's new police recruits failed their ethics exam but were given pass marks to ensure they will be on the beat before the election.

 

The Daily Telegraph can reveal in a class of about 850, roughly 500 recruits failed to get 50 per cent in the ethics subject's 10-question exam. There were about 100 who did not reach the new 40 per cent pass mark.

 

They had to resit the exam yesterday, sources told The Daily Telegraph.

 

The results prompted insiders at the police training college at Goulburn to brand the course "a joke" and "embarrassing".

 

In March last year, Premier Morris Iemma pledged 750 new officers would be trained and ready for duty by January 30, 2007.

 

The induction parade for a group that started with 977 new recruits last June will be held on Tuesday.

 

The college's head of educational services, Commander Tony Aldred, said yesterday he had been assured the assessment process undertaken by Charles Sturt University on behalf of the college "will not be compromised".

 

While claiming that process was far from finalised, he said he had "full confidence" that those who graduated would be among the "best probationary constables" in the NSW police force.

 

However, fears are held among the force's existing police about the competency of their new colleagues in the wake of the results.

 

"It's putting them in a really bad situation â?? these kids are going to come out and be totally unprepared for real police work," one officer said. "It's an embarrassment because they will literally come out knowing no better."

 

The ethical reasoning and policing exam included 10 questions about three case studies centering on coercion and gifts.

 

Yet it is seen by students as "as a joke subject".

 

"No one cares about it, and they've (the recruits) been taught not to care about it," one police college teaching assistant said.

 

As a current recruit put it, referring to the poor marks: "When push comes to shove, unless we've done something really bad, they're going to forgive us, because they need us."

 

The pass mark is normally 50 per cent for that subject but in others, such as law, it has been as high as 85 per cent.

 

The lack of knowledge among the recruits is already being detected, with those running mock court trials this week noticing the would-be officers "have no idea" when it comes to ethical practices.

 

Mr Aldred said he had promised Police Commissioner Ken Moroney a firm number of those graduating by Monday.

 

Mr Aldred rejected suggestions the college was under more pressure to pass students in the wake of Mr Iemma's much-publicised pledge for new police.

 

"The team down here have just got on with the job . . . the students are saying how challenging the course was. The standards are high," he said.

 

 

 

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