The South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy recognized the value of screening a police applicant's mental stability when it began offering the service to police departments in 1983. But South Carolina never made it a law, and when the state budget crisis hit, the academy's 20-year-old screening unit was an easy target. It closed on April 16, 2003.

Today, the state doesn't know how many of the more than 1,000 new officers who join the ranks of South Carolina police departments and sheriff's offices each year go untested.

That concerns academy director William Neill, who fought to keep the unit but was overruled.

Police officers are entrusted with the authority to take away a person's freedom and use deadly force if necessary. Not everyone has the maturity and mental stability to handle that responsibility, Neill said.

"In today's world, you want to be giving an officer psychological screening," he said.

No one knows that better than Dr. Mark Bolte, who ran the psychological screening unit during its final three years.

He and his staff were caught off guard when the state gave them two-weeks notice to clear out their offices and relocate scores of sensitive medical records and valuable research data.

The bad news arrived just as Bolte was helping draft legislation to require psychological screening for all law enforcement officers in the state.

Plans also were in the works to charge more for the unit's services so it could become self-sustaining.

"It was third down and we were ready to make the pass, but time ran out," he said.

An academy survey in 2001 found about 70 percent of states require psychological screening for law enforcement officers.

The lack of a mandate in South Carolina has had obvious results: Fewer than 100 of the state's 280 police agencies were administering the tests as part of their application process, the survey showed.

Of those that did the tests, about 36 used the academy's service. The remainder took the more expensive route of contracting with private practice psychologists, the survey found. The same testing that the state offered for $25 to $35 can cost $200 or more on the open market.

After the screening unit closed, police agencies around the state faced a tough decision: continue vetting applicants at a much higher cost or roll the dice with an officer who hasn't been fully analyzed for the rigors and stresses of police work.

For Mauldin Police Chief John Davidson, the choice was a no-brainer. "We felt like the information was so vital we had to have it."

Time and time again, the tests helped his department identify police applicants who had what he described as "gross psychological abnormalities."

"I would rather know that before they are hired than after," he said.

Neill agreed that the academy's tests regularly flagged officers as unsuitable for law enforcement. But because the tests were not mandated by state law, departments could, and occasionally did, opt to hire those officers anyway, Neill said.

Mauldin was fortunate that it could afford to continue sending applicants to an outside screening service after the state got out of the business.

"I think there are quite a few that have simply decided not to do it because they can't afford it," Davidson said.

Bolte, who continues to do law enforcement employee screenings in private practice, knows the state's service was a bargain for cash-strapped police departments.

But you can't put a price on peace of mind. The public needs to know that someone is ensuring officers are mentally fit to carry badges and guns, Bolte said.

"They probably make the assumption that happens now."