Law and Ethics in Public Safety Psychological Screening: Preemployment and Fitness-for-Duty Evaluation of Police, Correctional, and Fire Personnel

Course Description

This course examines the legal and ethical framework governing psychological screening of peace officer, correctional, and fire personnel, with emphasis on California POST regulations, the Government Code, federal equal-employment law, and the APA Ethics Code. Using current statutory citations and real case law, participants learn how each requirement operates in the evaluation process and the written report. The course meets the California Board of Psychology's 4-hour Laws and Ethics requirement for license renewal.

Program Goals

Building on doctoral-level training in psychological assessment and professional ethics, this program extends those foundations into the specialized legal and regulatory environment of public safety psychological screening. Participants move beyond general clinical competence to master the California-specific statutory mandates, POST regulatory requirements, federal anti-discrimination law, and forensic practice standards that define lawful and ethical evaluator conduct in preemployment and fitness-for-duty contexts.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the statutory and regulatory requirements governing preemployment psychological screening of California peace officers, including the relevant provisions of Government Code sections 1029, 1031, 1031.3, and 1031.4, and POST Commission Regulations 1950–1955
2. Describe the legal and ethical distinctions between preemployment psychological screening evaluations and fitness-for-duty evaluations, including differences in triggering conditions, governing standards, and required report content
3. Explain the professional qualifications and continuing education requirements mandated by California statute and POST regulations for psychologists conducting peace officer psychological screening evaluations
4. Differentiate the evaluator's ethical obligations in a third-party psychological screening context from those applicable in a treating clinician role, including modifications to confidentiality, informed consent, and duty to the examinee
5. Apply the bias assessment mandate established by Assembly Bill 846 and Government Code section 1031.3 to the conduct and documentation of peace officer preemployment psychological evaluations
6. Analyze how federal anti-discrimination law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII, and GINA, constrains the timing, content, and use of public safety psychological screening evaluations
7. Evaluate the empirical evidence supporting the use of standardized psychological assessment instruments in public safety screening, including the criterion validity of measures such as the MMPI-3 and NEO PI-3 for predicting officer performance and misconduct

Course Outline

• 1Section 1: The Public Safety Screening Landscape (25 minutes)
• 2 - Purpose and stakes of psychological screening in peace officer, correctional, and fire hiring
• 3 - The two directions of error: false negatives, false positives, and the balance the law seeks
• 4 - Empirical foundation: predictive validity evidence, key meta-analyses, and limitations
• 5 - Preemployment screening versus fitness-for-duty evaluation: distinct triggers, standards, and products
• 6Section 2: California Statutory Requirements (35 minutes)
• 7 - Government Code section 1031: minimum standards, the subdivision (f) mandate, and evaluator qualifications
• 8 - Sections 1029, 1031.4, and 1031.5: disqualifications, minimum age, and education requirements
• 9 - Government Code section 1031.3 and AB 846: the statutory bias assessment mandate
• 10 - Recent legislative changes: SB 2 decertification, AB 89 age requirement, and AB 992 education provisions
• 11Section 3: POST Regulations and Operational Requirements (35 minutes)
• 12 - Commission Regulations 1950-1955: structure and scope
• 13 - Regulation 1955(a) and (b): evaluator competency domains, continuing education, and the POST online examination
• 14 - Regulation 1955(e): required information sources including background investigation integration
• 15 - Bias assessment framework: POST materials, enumerated characteristics, and behavioral evidence standards
• 16Section 4: Federal Equal Employment Law and the ADA (30 minutes)
• 17 - Title I of the ADA: the post-offer rule, prohibited pre-offer inquiries, and the conditional offer requirement
• 18 - Current employee examinations: the job-related and business-necessity standard under section 12112(d)(4)
• 19 - Title VII and GINA: disparate impact analysis, validity defense requirements, and genetic information prohibitions
• 20 - Fitness-for-duty evaluation and the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights: procedural protections for incumbents
• 21Section 5: Professional Ethics and Practice Standards (30 minutes)
• 22 - The examiner-examinee relationship: how the absence of a treating relationship reshapes confidentiality, consent, and loyalty
• 23 - Informed consent and notification in the screening context: what candidates must be told and when
• 24 - Competence, assessment validity, and instrument selection: ethical and legal obligations operating together
• 25 - APA Ethics Code, Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology, and IACP guidelines: authority, enforceability, and conflicts
• 26Section 6: The Psychological Screening Report (25 minutes)
• 27 - Required elements and prohibited content: what Regulation 1955 mandates and what the ADA forbids
• 28 - Translating suitability dimensions into defensible written conclusions
• 29 - Documentation of bias assessment, multicultural considerations, and incremental data sources
• 30 - Common report errors that create regulatory violations and litigation exposure

About the Instructor

Sepideh Souris, PsyD

Professional Degree & Discipline:

PsyD

Current Position & Expertise in Program Content:

Dr. Sepideh Souris is a forensic and police psychologist with more than two decades of leadership experience in public sector psychological services. For 21 years, she served as the Chief of Psychological Services for the Los Angeles County Psychological Services Unit (PSU), where she also held the role of Senior Human Resources Manager, overseeing Occupational Health Programs, disability management, and compliance. In this capacity, she directed pre-employment, occupationally mandated evaluations and disability management operations for all 40 County departments and commissions, including the full spectrum of public safety evaluations such as Psychological Fitness for Duty examinations and specialized assessments for law enforcement and safety sensitive personnel. Dr. Souris has provided expert testimony in more than 25 Civil Service Commission matters and in multiple cases before the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She has delivered extensive training on pre employment psychological evaluations, fitness for duty evaluations, threat assessment, and workplace violence prevention. At the request of the U.S. Department of State, she presented on pre employment psychological evaluation practices for law enforcement personnel at the 4th International Conference in Mexico City. Her professional work also includes a private forensic practice focused on FFDEs, appeals, IMEs, and specialized forensic evaluations. She is the author of the chapter “Integration of Internet Based Data in Pre Employment and Fitness for Duty Psychological Evaluations in the Law Enforcement Arena,” published in Forensic Mental Health Evaluations in the Digital Age, reflecting years of applied experience and consultation with national experts. Dr. Souris currently serves as the Manager of the Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Team for Los Angeles County and is an active member of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals. She has held academic appointments as an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine and as adjunct faculty at Pepperdine University and California State University, Fullerton.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

No commercial support or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

Full refund available within 7 days of purchase if course has not been started. No refund after course content has been accessed.