Current police selection procedures in Australia are based on broad criteria involving physical, educational, and character qualifications. There is little effort to relate these qualifications to the effective performance of precisely defined police tasks. The emphasis is on excluding those persons who do not meet the broad selection criteria. A scientific strategy for personnel selection involves the delineation of tasks recruits will perform, the development of measures of successful task performance, the identification of personnel attributes related to successful task performance, and the construction of measuring devices that identify applicants with the appropriate attributes. The application of this strategy to the selection of police personnel is made difficult by the number of diverse and specialized tasks police perform, varying priorities for these tasks, and uncertain and sometimes invalid measures of successful task performance. Until these problems are resolved, it is difficult to identify the attributes required for the effective performance of police tasks. A first step would be to develop a broad array of policing tasks that reflect all specialities including management rather than focusing exclusively on patrol duties. 23 notes.