The New York Times, Sunday, September 19, 1999
 
 Help Wanted: The Not-Too-High-Q Standard
 
 By MIKE ALLEN
 
 NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Wanted: a few not-so-bright cops.
 
 That is the official hiring policy in this former whaling village, 
 where Police Department officials refused to grant Robert J. Jordan a 
 job interview because they considered him to be too smart, then waged 
 a three-year court fight to protect their right to favor mediocre 
 applicants.
 
 And won.
 
 The City of New London contends that applicants who score too high on 
 a pre-employment test are likely to become bored in patrol jobs, and 
 leave the force soon after the city has paid to train them. Similar 
 cutoffs, it turns out, are frequently used by employers when they are 
 looking for workers who must follow rigid procedures, including bank 
 tellers, customer service representatives and security guards.
 
 In 1996 Mr. Jordan scored 33 out of 50 on the exam, which is used by 
 40,000 employers across the country, including National Football 
 League teams for potential draft choices. That was 6 points too high 
 to qualify for an interview with the New London police.
 
 When Mr. Jordan heard about other people being hired even though he 
 hadn't been called, he went to the Police Department to protest that 
 he felt sure he must have passed. He says he was curtly informed that 
 he did not "fit the profile," which litigation revealed was a score 
 of 20 to 27.
 
 "Bob Jordan is exactly the type of guy we would want to screen out," 
 said William C. Gavitt, the deputy police chief, who interviews 
 candidates.
 
 "Police work is kind of mundane. We don't deal in gunfights every 
 night. There's a personality that can take that."
 
 This month, a Federal judge in New Haven has ruled that the practice 
 was constitutional since the city treats all smart would-be officers 
 the same, and thus did not discriminate against Mr. Jordan. 
 "Plaintiff may have been disqualified unwisely but he was not denied 
 equal protection," Judge Peter C. Dorsey of the United States 
 District Court wrote.
 
 Mr. Jordan, 48, is a life-insurance salesman who had dreamed of a 
 second career protecting and serving, with an eye on the pension. He 
 said he was astounded that he could be shut out on the basis of brain 
 power, but not gender, sexual orientation or race.
 
 "Being reasonably intelligent does not make you part of a protected 
 class," he said, chuckling at his new command of legalese. For a 
 certified wise man, Mr. Jordan is remarkably modest about his 
 academic achievements, volunteering that it took him 26 years to get 
 a bachelor's degree in literature from Charter Oak State College in 
 New Britain, Conn. "I'm eminently trainable," he said. "I'm not up 
 there with Mozart."
 
 At first the decision was greeted as a great punch line in New 
 London, a city of 27,000.
 
 But as the news sunk in, many people said the rule was insulting to 
 their police force, and nonsensical at a time when law-enforcement 
 officers must deal with complicated social problems.
 
 "Your average dunderhead is not the person you want to try to solve a 
 fight between a man and his wife at 2 A.M.," said Nick Checker, 35, a 
 local playwright. "I'd rather have them hire the right man or woman 
 for the job and keep replacing them than have the same moron for 20 
 years."
 
 Millie McLaughlin, 82, the lunch lady at Harbor Elementary School, 
 worries that pupils will think that "if they study too hard, they 
 won't get a job."
 
 And Gilbert G. Gallegos, the national president of the Fraternal 
 Order of Police, said that besides reinforcing keystone kop 
 stereotypes, the city's stance was self-defeating. "The better the 
 caliber of the police officer, the fewer problems you have in the 
 community."
 
 Mr. Jordan had run afoul of turnover rates, which have been the 
 subject of decades of study by management theorists. The publisher of 
 the test, Wonderlic Inc. of Libertyville, Ill., has a section in its 
 "User's Manual" warning clients about the cost of replacing workers 
 who quit because they become dissatisfied with repetitive work. 
 "Simply hiring the highest scoring employee can be self-defeating," 
 the manual says.
 
 Wonderlic's president, Charles F. Wonderlic Jr., said variations of 
 the 12-minute test used in New London have been given to 125 million 
 people since his grandfather founded the company in 1937. Mr. 
 Wonderlic said hundreds of employers have used his suggested maximum 
 scores to exclude overly qualified applicants for positions where 
 creativity could be a detriment.
 
 "You can't decide not to read someone their Miranda rights because 
 you felt it would be more efficient, or you thought they knew them 
 already," Mr. Wonderlic said.
 
 On the other hand, an expert witness for Mr. Jordan was paid $350 an 
 hour for his conclusion that patrol work is "cognitively complex and 
 intellectually demanding." The expert, Frank J. Landy, a psychologist 
 in Walnut Creek, Calif., pointed to the demands of such modern 
 practices as community-oriented policing as an indication of "the 
 range and challenge of tasks performed by a typical patrol officer."
 
 Mr. Jordan said he would appeal the ruling if his lawyers are willing 
 to continue the case now that he has used up his savings. In the 
 meantime, he is supplementing his insurance business by working for 
 $26,000 a year -- $15,000 less than he would make as a New London 
 patrolman -- as a state prison guard.
 
 "In those dormitories, there's 110 inmates and one of you," he said. 
 "Your mouth better be connected to your brain."
 
 While those with badges and guns are called New York's finest, they 
 will continue to be New London's fair to middling: New London 
 officials say they plan to keep using the test to fend off 
 smarty-pants.