Andy Anderson
Feb. 21, 2017
By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer
HUNTSVILLE, TN. – For years, a longtime Roane State Community College associate professor has been donating his time and talents to assist law enforcement agencies.
Andy Anderson, associate professor of psychology at the college’s W.H. Swain Scott County Center, gives required psychological evaluations to candidates seeking employment at the Scott and Campbell County Sheriff’s Departments and the Oneida Police Department.
He’s the only person in that area qualified to administer those tests, mandated by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission of the Tennessee Police Academy.
“It’s a service to the community,” said Anderson. “It’s a way I can help out.”
Anderson has been with Roane State since 1996 and has taught at the Scott County campus since 2007. He became certified to do the evaluations of prospective law enforcement officers while earlier employed at Hiwassee Mental Health Center, and he retained that license.
He now does about 25 psychological evaluations each year for the sheriff’s departments and police department, and each test takes about two hours.
Those checkups screen to determine if job candidates are “free of emotional issues,” Anderson said. A standardized test titled Multiphasic Personality Inventory is used, and Anderson also administers IQ tests.
Only a small percentage of candidates don’t pass muster, he said.
About 10 percent of the evaluations produce what Anderson calls “invalid results, because people get into the mindset of trying to look perfect.”
In those cases, it’s up to the respective agencies to determine how to proceed.
Gov. Bill Haslam recently appointed Anderson to the state’s 10-member Board of Examiners of Psychology, which approves licenses, investigates alleged improprieties and suggests changes in standards for practicing psychologists.
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