What is the Matrix?

Funny you should ask:

• Just as insurance companies predict the likelihood of heart attacks, car crashes and house fires, more than a dozen police departments in the suburbs and at Chicago area universities are using a similar type of forecasting on job applicants.

  The aim is to screen out candidates likely to use excessive force, abuse drugs, improperly fire a weapon or have other problems.

  The statistics-based psychological evaluation system was developed by Matrix Inc. in the mid-1990s in Louisiana.

But guess who isn't using it?

• The City of Chicago, which pays out millions of dollars a year as a result of lawsuits against police officers, doesn't use the system. Matrix approached the city in 2008, but Tracey Ladner, human resources director for the Chicago Police Department, said the department uses a more "traditional" psychological evaluation. Matrix did not submit a bid in time, she said.

And that "traditional" approach, how is that working out for you there Tracey? One has to wonder what scandals might have been averted using a program like this instead of "clout" and phone calls for hiring purposes alone.

You know what would be interesting? Having "merit" picks and command staff take this Matrix evaluation just to see where they'd land in the great scheme of things. And then maybe Shortshanks could sit for a test, too.