In December 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) hosted a webinar entitled Perceptions of Promotion Systems for COPS Office grantees focused on the applications of industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology to improving promotional processes in policing.

I-O psychology is a solutions-oriented scientific study of human behavior in organizations and the workplace. SIOP is the premiere organization for researchers and practitioners focused on the advancement of I-O psychology. This webinar was an extension of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between SIOP and the COPS Office to help increase understanding of evidence-based findings from I-O psychology that are relevant to the field of policing to improve practices and safety.

During the webinar, volunteer I-O psychology experts shared the characteristics of the ideal promotion process, including perceptions of fairness and minimization of adverse impact, common factors influencing promotion systems, and items that are measured in promotion assessments and ways to measure them. SIOP experts also compared promotional systems across police departments of different sizes, discussed different types of promotion assessments, and spoke to attendees about the three most important principles for promotion systems—(1) fairness, (2) objectivity, and (3) transparency—as well as ways to maintain them. The webinar closed with a discussion of how I-O psychology can support policing through the application of evidence-based promotion processes in a consistent and accurate way.

During the webinar, SIOP experts also discussed how police departments can help counteract the ways the promotion process can disrupt an officer’s lifestyle, the role for a police department in supporting officers with a goal of being promoted, the impact of peer and family support in the promotion process, and incentives and inhibitors that are in or perceived to be part of the promotion system.

Questions about SIOP’s work with the DOJ should be directed to SIOP Government Relations Advocacy Team (GREAT) Chair Kristin Saboe at Kristin.saboe@gmail.com.

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