«Personnel selection in the Municipal Police for the 'Environmental Protection' Competence»

The purpose of the present study was the definition of an effective method for the selection of the
personnel of the Municipal Police’s (M.P.) regarding with the implementation of the competence of “environmental protection”. In particular it was: a) recorded the M.P’s personnel levels of environmental sensitivity (knowledge, beliefs, behavior), b) tested the relationship between environmental knowledge, beliefs and behavior, and c) investigated whether the difference in personnel’s willingness for the implementation of the specific competence is due to the different level of the personnel’s environmental sensitivity. 171 M.P. officers took part in the study (men 104, women 67) aged from 25 to 57 years from 19 different prefectures of the country. For the evaluation of environmental sensitivity the following scales were used a) knowledge of environmental issues, b) beliefs for environmental protection (Kouthouris & Kontogianni, 2013, a; b), and c) environmentally responsible behavior (Zafeiroudi & Hatzigeorgiadis, 2012). The reliability of the scales was tested successfully. The results showed that a) the beliefs for environmental protection succeeded the highest score between the tested variables (Μ.=6.10, S.D.=0.99), b) a high and positive correlation among the three tested variables (p < .01), and c) the personnel of the M.P. who reported high and medium scores at environmental sensitivity also reported higher scores (Μ.=6.24, S.D.=1.06 and Μ.=5.98, S.D.=1.20, respectively) regarding with their willingness to implement the competence of ‘environmental protection’ compared to the personnel who reported low scores at environmental sensitivity (Μ.=4.94, S.D.=1.70) (p <.001). The theoretical and practical implications and the implementation of the results are extensively discussed, aiming to the most effective selection of the personnel of M.P.