Investigating the Prevalence of Bias in the Public Safety Applicant Population

Ryan Roberts, J.D., Ph.D.,received is the Vice President and co-ownerof LEPS, Inc. and the co-owner of JRA, Inc., a publisher of specialized assessment reports for public safety psychologiststhat. Dr. Roberts is the co-author of the latest versions of each of JRA?s test reports for the CPI, PAI, and STAXI-II. In addition, Dr. Roberts is the lead researcher for JRA and has published articles on the predictive validity of the CPI in public safety evaluations, the effect of response bias on the CPI, and the validity of the CPI and PAI when administered virtually.

Michael Roberts, Ph.D., ABPP received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut at Storrs. In the forty-nine years Dr. Roberts has been active in the law enforcement field as a psychologist, he has made contributions to both psychology and law enforcement that have received national recognition. Specific contributions include: co-design of the San Jose Model Field Training and Evaluation Program which has been adopted by many law enforcement agencies nationwide; the formulation of standards for psychological selection of law enforcement officers, as presented in an FBI course (FBI National Executive Institute) for police administrators from 1978-2002; special unit selection techniques; and research on entry-level selection, casualty officers, the Field Training Program, and adverse impact issues. Dr. Roberts' efforts have also been recognized by the psychology profession by his election to Fellow status in Clinical Psychology by the American Psychological Association, and the status of Diplomate in Clinical Psychology and Police and Public Safety Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Dr. Vablais received her MBA from the University of Washington's Executive program in 2000 and her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Fielding Graduate University in 2007. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the varied presentation of psychopathy in female offenders received an award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy. She has extensive experience in forensic assessment which she gained working for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and the Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. Prior to returning to Washington in 2011, she worked as a psychologist and the Director of Mental Health for the Anne Arundel County Detention Center in Annapolis, Maryland. From 2011 ? 2015, she worked on the executive leadership team at Fairfax Hospital, an acute crisis stabilization inpatient facility.She has provided expert witness testimony in both Maryland and Washington for matters including competency to stand trial, determining criminal responsibility and involuntary civil commitment. She is currently licensed in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Alaska, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.