Bruce Topp

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Bruce Topp works for San Francisco’s Department of Human Resources and manages hiring and promotional testing for the Police Department.

He also advises other public safety organizations such as the Fire Department. He retired in July of 2007, but continues to work on a part time basis with the City while consulting with firms in the private sector.

Bruce joined San Francisco in 2000 when he was hired to be the Director of Personnel for the Department of Human Services (welfare department) where he oversaw a staff of 50 prior to joining DHR a few of years ago.

Previously, Bruce spent nine years in Oakland where he supervised police and fire testing and finally all civil service examinations for the city.  Prior to Oakland, Bruce worked with Lockheed in Silicon Valley where he supervised student testing and training evaluation for the Satellite Operations Training Program, a $48M contact to train Air Force officers to command and control satellites. He was later assigned to new business development where he managed proposals for government contracts with agencies like the USAF Space Command and NASA.

In the seventies, Bruce worked as a Deputy Sheriff and Police Officer in Northern Arizona while earning his Bachelor’s degree in Police Administration. He went on to obtain a Master’s in counseling psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. He has conducted research in cognitive psychology and test validation. Bruce has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco where he taught research methods, statistics, and other courses in human resource management.

In his spare time Bruce spends time at his cottage in Santa Cruz, surfs, and takes surfing photographs and videos which he posts on his websites www.surfhumor.com and www.norcalsurfphotos.com. His wife Dr. Kimberly Topp works at UCSF and is chair of the Physical Therapy Department and manages the first year curriculum for the medical school. They have one child, a golden retriever named Tucker.

Selected Publications/Presentations

Topp, B. W. (August, 2004).  Succession Planning.  Invited address to the Personnel Testing Council of Northern California.

Topp, B. W. (September, 2002).  Getting the right people:  Techniques for effective recruitment and selection.  Invited address to the annual conference of the California Physical Therapy Association, Pasadena, CA.

Topp, B. W.  (November, 2000).  Surviving Reengineering:  Strategies for accomplishing the impossible with limited resources.  Invited address to the Personnel Testing Council of Northern California, Berkeley, CA.

Topp, B. W. (September, 2000).  Recruitment and selection challenges in 2000- Survival of the fittest.  Invited address to annual convention of the Interpersonal Personnel Management Association, Central California Chapter, Murphys, CA.

Topp, B. W. (September, 2000).  Background investigations in public safety selection.  Invited address to the National Summit on Law Enforcement Recruitment and Retention, Las Vegas, CA.

Hurley, K. J. & Topp, B. W.  (September, 2000).  Targeted recruitment of minority public safety candidates. Invited address to the National Summit on Law Enforcement Recruitment and Retention, Las Vegas, CA.

Topp, B. W.  (April, 2000).  Hiring the right people:  Fundamentals of employment testing.  Invited address to the California Law Enforcement Background Investigators Association- CALEBI, Lake Tahoe, CA.

Topp, B. W. (June, 1998).  Capitalizing on technology to accelerate selection processes.  Paper presented to the IPMA Assessment Council, Chicago, IL.

Topp, B.W. & Kardash, C. A. (1986). Personality, achievement, and attrition: Validation in a multi-jurisdiction police academy. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 14, 234-241.

Kulhavy, R. W., White, M. T., Topp, B. W., et. al. (1985). Feedback complexity and corrective efficiency. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 10, 285-291.

Delaney, H. R. and  Topp, B. W. (1985).  Factors in the socialization of police officers: An exploratory study. American Journal of Police, 4, 167-186.

Eliason, M. R. and Topp, B. W. (1984). Predictive validity of Rappaport's Disability Rating Scale in subjects with acute brain dysfunction. Physical Therapy, 64, 1357-1360.

Topp, B. W. , Kulhavy, R. W., and Webb, K. S. (1986, April). Schema instantiation and the acquisition and reconstruction of new knowledge from text. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Topp, B. W. & Kardash, C. A. (1986, April). The personality traits of police cadets: Relationship to academic performance.  Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

White, M., Topp, B. W., et. al. (1984). Feedback complexity and corrective efficiency. Paper presented at the meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA.

Topp, B. W., Hardy, J., & Howell, D. (1985). Satellite Operations Training Program training needs/exercising requirements analysis for the Satellite Operations Complex Simulator, CDRL 003A2, Contract F04690-84-C-0010, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Inc.

Topp, B. W. (1981). A follow-up study of graduates of Police Science and Administration at Northern Arizona University. Technical Report, Northern Arizona University.

Topp, B. W. (1984). An evaluation of traditional and computer-assisted math remediation programs in the Gilbert Public School System.  Technical Report, Gilbert Unified School District.