
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 14, 1992                   TAG: 9203140194
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

TASK FORCE SAYS OLDER OFTEN IS BETTER ON THE JOB

Public safety would not be threatened by the elimination of mandatory retirement ages for public safety officers, according to a psychology task force.

"In fact, public safety might actually be enhanced by virtue of allowing the experience of public safety officers to accrue," reported Frank Landy, director of the Center for Applied Behavioral Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, who headed the interdisciplinary study commissioned by Congress.

The task force concluded that age is not a good predictor of important aspects of job performance of public safety officers (police officers, firefighters and corrections officers).

"We don't feel confident that you could use age to predict who is and who isn't capable of protecting the public," Landy said, adding:

"The firefighters and police officers between 60 and 65 are actually more fit than those between the ages of 50 and 55 because there seems to be a Darwinist mechanism working - those who aren't fit and capable drop out early."

He also noted that older public safety officers often move into desk jobs where their accrued knowledge benefits new recruits.

In 1986, Congress banned the use of mandatory retirement ages except for public safety officers and tenured college professors. The task force study was conducted to aid Congress in determining how to proceed when the exceptions expire next year.

by CNB