Sworn Positions
Entry Peace Officer, L-201
100 items; 1 hour 40 minute time limit.
- Language Skills; Reading Comprehension, and Writing Skills
- Problem Solving; Reasoning Ability, and Accuracy With Names + Numbers
There is no pre-test study guide for this test. Test administration is very straight-forward, and does not include assessment of candidate’s listening skills (i.e., the proctor does not have read-aloud components).
This test is designed to assist agencies to select candidates for entry to a police academy. For those agencies that require candidates to have a training certificate before testing (e.g., POST Certification), see our Senior Officer / Lateral Entry test (L-332).
Donnoe & Associates, Inc.’s Entry Peace Officer examination design was based a thorough job analysis completed by California Peace Officer Standards and Training, and development of written test questions from work samples and materials from actual academy classes. Next, criterion validity evidence was collected, based on testing of three groups of cadets entering a police academy, then following these classes through to graduation. Here, our test was administered to over 180 cadets, correlated with their performance in all measurements through the academy, and then correlated with their corresponding test performance on the California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) examinations. Strong evidence of validity was established for measures of academy success. Finally, our test was compared to the California POST peace officers entry test for this same group of 180 cadets. Here, our test is highly correlated with the POST test in all regards.
As most agencies are aware, there is a tendency for candidates to “agency hop” and take entry peace officer exams whenever they are offered. Because of this we have developed alternate forms of this test, and we closely monitor where this test is used, then avoid having neighboring agencies use the same version of the test. This assists in maintaining exam security, and reducing the possibility that an individual candidate would be advantaged, or disadvantaged by the process.
Skilled Police Officer, California, L-431
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- Police Report Language Skills: Sentence Ordering and Legal Vocabulary
- Reasoning and Problem Solving
- California Peace Officer Legal Sourcebook
Skilled Police Officer, Outside of California, L-532
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- Police Report Language Skills: Sentence Ordering and Legal Vocabulary
- Reasoning and Problem Solving
- The Law Officer’s Pocket Manual. Miles, J. G. Jr., and Richards, D. B., Routledge (2021)
Police Corporal, California, L-433
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- Police Report Language Skills: Sentence Ordering and Legal Vocabulary
- Effective Supervisory Practices. ICMA, 5th Edition (2013)
- California Peace Officer Legal Sourcebook
Police Corporal, Outside of California, L-534
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- Police Report Language Skills: Sentence Ordering and Legal Vocabulary
- Effective Supervisory Practices. ICMA, 5th Edition (2013)
- The Law Officer’s Pocket Manual. Miles, J. G. Jr., and Richards, D. B., Routledge (2021)
Police Detective, California, L-435
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- Police Report Language Skills: Sentence Ordering and Legal Spelling
- Criminal Investigation. Orthmann, C.H., and Hess, K. M., Delmar Cengage Learning, 11th Edition (2017)
- California Peace Officer Legal Sourcebook
Police Detective, Outside of California, L-536
100 items; 2 hour time limit
- Police Report Language Skills: Sentence Ordering and Legal Spelling
- Criminal Investigation. Orthmann, C.H., and Hess, K. M., Delmar Cengage Learning, 11th Edition (2017)
- The Law Officer’s Pocket Manual. Miles, J. G. Jr., and Richards, D. B., Routledge (2021)
Police Sergeant, California, L-761
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- De-escalation: Strategies & Techniques for California Law Enforcement. Copyright 2020. California Commission of Peace Officer Standards and Training
- California Peace Officer Legal Sourcebook
- Pocket Guide to the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act. California Public Employee Relations, 18th Edition (2019)
- National Incident Management System (NIMS), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2017)
- Supervision of Police Personnel. Iannone, N., Iannone, M. Bernstein, J. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 9th Edition (2019)
Police Sergeant, Outside of California, L-762
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- Supervision of Police Personnel. Iannone, N., Iannone, M. Bernstein, J. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 9th Edition (2019)
- National Incident Management System (NIMS), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2017)
- Law Enforcement Best Practices: Lessons Learned from the Field. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (2019)
- The Law Officer’s Pocket Manual. Miles, J. G. Jr., and Richards, D. B., Routledge (2021)
Police Lieutenant / Watch Commander, California, L-871
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- De-escalation: Strategies & Techniques for California Law Enforcement. Copyright 2020. California Commission of Peace Officer Standards and Training
- CA POST Use of Force Standards and Guidelines. California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (2021)
- Law Enforcement Best Practices: Lessons Learned from the Field. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (2019)
- California Peace Officers Legal Sourcebook
- Pocket Guide to the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act. California Public Employee Relations, 18th Edition (2019)
- National Incident Management System (NIMS), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2017) Police Ethics: The Corruption of Noble Cause. Caldero, M.A., Crank, J.P., Anderson Publishing, 4th Edition (2018)
Police Lieutenant / Watch Commander, Outside of California, L-872
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- Law Enforcement Best Practices: Lessons Learned from the Field. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (2019)
- Managing Police Organizations. Whisenand, P.M., 8th Edition (2014)
- National Incident Management System (NIMS), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2017)
- The Law Officer’s Pocket Manual. Miles, J. G. Jr., and Richards, D. B., Routledge (2021)
Non-Sworn Positions
Police Clerk, L-311
100 items; 1 hour 40 minute time limit.
- Language Skills: Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Vocabulary, Grammar
- People Skills
- Office Skills: MS Word, MS Excel, Filing
Community Services Officer, L-312
100 items; 1 hour 40 minute time limit.
- Language Skills: Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Vocabulary, Grammar
- Reasoning and Problem Solving: Inductive and Deductive Reasoning, Name & Number Accuracy
- People Skills
Parking Enforcement Officer, L-213
100 items; 1 hour 40 minute time limit.
- Language Skills: Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Vocabulary, Grammar
- Reasoning and Problem Solving: Inductive and Deductive Reasoning, Name & Number Accuracy
- People Skills
- Map Reading
Forensic Specialist, L-521
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- MS Excel Spreadsheet Skills
- Sentence Ordering
- Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
- Interpersonal Skills / Teamwork
- Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation
Crime Analyst, L-531
100 items; 2 hour time limit.
- MS Excel Spreadsheet Skills
- Sentence Ordering
- Categorizing Information
- Statistics
- Numerical Reasoning and Problem Solving
- Assessing Responses to Policing Problems
ENTRY LAW ENFORCEMENT, iAHQ L-1201
- L-1201 includes question sets and self-ratings on experience, community involvement, training, and education. The results of this iAHQ should be considered during background investigations to verify claims made by candidates. We recommend following this iAHQ exam with a written test, such as our L-201 Written Test, that assess language and problem solving skills.