NCJ Number
94141
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1984) Pages: 125-129
Date Published
1984
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Police administrators agree that police officers should have an occupational vision of at least 20/30, but they do not agree as to what should be the uncorrected vision of police applicants.
Abstract
Study data came from a mailed questionnaire, to which 323 law enforcement agencies responded. The respondents were mainly State and municipal agencies, with the latter generally responsible for areas with populations over 50,000. Five-sixths of the agencies required 20/20 vision and one-eighth required 20/30 vision as an occupational standard. However, 26 percent of the agencies had no stated standard for uncorrected vision, while the remaining agencies were distributed over nine other categories ranging from 20/20 to 20/200. While a strong occupational standard can be easily defended, a narrow requirement for uncorrected vision is questionable, given the advances of modern technology in the field of optometry and opthamology. Police agencies may be turning away many people who are otherwise qualified and keeping some less qualified individuals who happen to have better uncorrected vision. Medical standards should come from the medical community, not from the opinions of administrators. More research on the issue of vision standards is needed. Tables and three references are supplied.