Abbeville Council discusses Matrix exam for police department applicants

Prior to the Abbeville City Council hiring a new police officer, the potential hire must pass what has been called a “stringent” psychiatric exam in order to be covered under the city’s liability insurance.
That circumstance is dictated by the city’s liability insurer, Risk Management, Inc. The company is part of the Louisiana Municipal Association (LMA).
Risk Management, which has provided Abbeville’s liability insurance for more than 10 years, has required candidates for the police department, both for full-time and the auxiliary force, to take the Matrix psychiatric evaluation for the past 18 months. During that time, 25 people have taken the exam, 13 have passed.
Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza and the council members reviewed the issue during Tuesday’s regular council meeting.
“Half the people we are sending over there are not passing this very stringent psychiatric evaluation,” Piazza said. “We feel like we have sent some very good, qualified candidates that we were not able to hire.”
Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy agreed.
“The last two were both college graduates,” Hardy said.
With turnover in the police department, Piazza said the Matrix exam has become a difficult hurdle.
“We have a lot of issues that we are dealing with,” Piazza said. “If we can’t replace these people, that is a serious problem. I spoke with the director of Risk Management, and he is adamant that they are not going to change. If our people do not pass Matrix, they will not be covered on our insurance.”
Councilman Wayne Landry, District D, posed a question.
“How do we get around that?,” Landry asked.
Piazza offered a suggestion.
“I am going to ask the council to go back on the market and see what else is available,” Piazza said. “Let’s see if there’s another company out there that uses something other than Matrix.
“We need to make every effort we can to help the chief to keep our personnel up in the police department.”
The council voted 5-0 to move on that process. The city will request proposals from other providers.
The city pays its liability insurance on a month-to-month basis and there is no contract with Risk Management.
“We are not tied into 12 months,” Piazza said. “We can change it at anytime.”
The mayor said Friday morning that the plan is to simply see what the market has to offer.
“We want to see how competitive other quotes might be,” Piazza said. “There are other companies that have bid on our business before. We would like to see what is out there and if they are possibly using some other type of psychiatric evaluation that is different from what Rick Management is using, which is hindering our opportunity to hire new police officers.”
The issue is not exclusive to Abbeville.
“Chief Hardy has talked to chiefs of police in other municipalities that have Risk Management,” Piazza said. “They all have the same complaint and the same problem.”
Bringing new officers in has not been a problem during the entirety of Abbeville’s relationship with Risk Management.
“The Matrix exam is something that they have been using for a little over a year now,” Piazza said. “Since they changed, it has presented a problem. Prior to that change, we never had a problem with applicants passing a psychiatric evaluation.”
If the field does not offer a better option, and the city remains with Risk Management for its liability insurance, Piazza said he will continue to work for a change.
“I serve on the LMA board,” Piazza said. “Risk Management works for LMA.
“The issue is something I intend to bring to the board.”