COURTS HAVE IDENTIFIED FOUR GENERAL CRITERIA FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CONTENT VALIDITY. THESE CRITERIA PERTAIN TO THE SOUNDNESS OF TESTING, THE ADEQUACY OF JOB ANALYSIS, THE DEMONSTRATION OF RELATIONSHIPS, AND THE USE OF TESTING. GUIDELINES AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS RELEVANT TO JOB ANALYSIS HAVE BEEN PREPARED BY THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION AND THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. OF 465 MUNICIPAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS, 248 SERVE COMMUNITIES WITH A POPULATION OF 5,000 OR LESS. AN ADDITIONAL 90 SERVE COMMUNITIES WITH A POPULATION OF LESS THAN 10,000. MOST POLICE PERSONNEL ARE CONCENTRATED IN 217 MUNICIPAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS SERVING COMMUNITIES WITH A POPULATION OF 5,000 AND ABOVE. THE VALIDATION SAMPLE INCLUDED FEW DEPARTMENTS SERVING POPULATIONS BELOW 10,000. IN TOTAL, 107 DEPARTMENTS WERE REPRESENTED IN ONE OR MORE PHASES OF THE STUDY, FOR A STATEWIDE SAMPLE OF ALL DEPARTMENTS. IN DEVISING A VALIDATION METHODOLOGY, CONSIDERATION WAS GIVEN TO LEGISLATION, CASE LAW, PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS SUPPORT CONTENT VALIDATION, BURDEN OF PROOF THAT AN EMPLOYER MUST BEAR IN LITIGATION, AND BOUNDARIES OF CONTENT VALIDATION. A JOB INVENTORY (TASK ANALYSIS APPROACH) FOR ENTRY-LEVEL MUNICIPAL POLICE OFFICERS WAS DEVELOPED. BASED ON THIS INVENTORY, A 275-ITEM TASK QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PATROL OFFICERS WAS FORMULATED. A NUMBER OF JOB ANALYSIS STUDIES PREVIOUSLY CONDUCTED WERE REVIEWED FOR THE PURPOSE OF IDENTIFYING PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPORTANCE IN THE PERFORMANCE OF ENTRY-LEVEL POLICE FUNCTIONS. A QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ALSO DEVELOPED TO EVALUATE PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS REQUIRED OF POLICE OFFICERS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THEIR DUTIES, WITH EMPHASIS ON UNIFORMED FIELD PATROL OFFICERS. READING COMPREHENSION AND WRITING SKILLS (REPORT PREPARATION) WERE ASSESSED IN RELATION TO THEIR IMPACT ON JOB PERFORMANCE. INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED WITH A NUMBER OF OFFICERS. DETAILED DATA ON THE FINDINGS OF THE VALIDATION STUDY ARE TABULATED. REFERENCES ARE CITED. (DEP)