Police Officer

COUNTY OF ERIE - DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL
invites applications for the position of:

Police Officer

67-729 - Open Competitive (open to the public)

Erie County is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to workplace diversity.

THERE ARE NO RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THIS EXAMINATION. Candidates must be a United States Citizen, an Erie County Resident, and where applicable a resident of the Town or Village where he or she is appointed per Public Officers Law at time of appointment. (See Erie County Policies and Procedures.) In accordance with local law or rule, preference may be given to successful candidates who have been residents of the municipality in which the appointment is to be made for one month preceding the date of the certification of the eligible list and who are residents of the municipality at the time of appointment. Non-residents may be required to become a resident of the appointing municipality if local law so states. The eligible list resulting from this examination will be used to fill future vacancies in Erie County Towns and Villages.

FOR APPOINTMENT AS POLICE OFFICER: In all Erie County Towns and Villages, preference may be given to candidates as provided for in Section 23.4 (a) of the NYS Civil Service Law and Rule VII of the Erie County Rules for the Classified Service. Upon exhaustion of the list of such resident eligibles, certification shall be made from the whole eligible list. Appointees may be required to become legal residents of the municipality wherein they receive appointment in accordance with local law or ordinance.

A Police Officer is responsible for the enforcement of laws, ordinances and the protection of lives and property in an assigned area during a specified period; does related work as required;

Patrols highways or streets, or a specific area on foot, in a radio cruising car or on a motorcycle;

Investigates suspicious activities and apprehends and arrests criminals, disordered, vagrants or other persons menacing the general public;

Gathers evidence and assists in the prosecution of such persons in court;

Serves as a motorcycle patrol officer and arrests violators of traffic regulations or other laws;

Investigates automotive accidents and submits reports in detail;

Checks doors and windows of unoccupied business and residence properties;

Escorts prisoners to jail and court;

Investigates reports of and searches for missing persons and stolen cars and property;

Directs traffic and marks cars for overtime parking;

Broadcasts radio messages and send teletype messages;

Makes daily reports.

A) Completion of 60 semester credit hours from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university at time of appointment; OR

B) Completion of 30 semester credit hours from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university and completion of one year of active duty* military service (See Notes 2. 3. and 5.) at time of appointment; OR

C) An equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A) and (B).

PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL :

Candidates must have visual acuity of no worse than 20/100 in each eye uncorrected and must otherwise satisfy the medical and physical fitness standards prescribed by the New York Municipal Police Training Council. These physical and medical requirements are posted in the Erie County Personnel Department, 95 Franklin Street, Buffalo, New York, Room 604.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Eligibility for appointment begins when candidates reach their 21st birthday;

Candidates who reach their 35th birthday before the date of the written examination are not eligible except as follows*: Candidates may have a period of military duty or terminal leave up to six years, as defined in Section 243 (10-a) of the Military Law, deducted from their age for the purpose of meeting the age requirement. *Section 58.1(a) requires that applicants not be “more than thirty-five years of age as of the date when the applicant takes the written examination. ” Candidates who may be impacted by the maximum age requirement and who are requesting an alternate test date (for active military duty, Sabbath observance or for an alternate test date situation which meets the conditions of Erie County’s alternate test date policy) are advised to contact Erie County to discuss the request.

CITIZENSHIP: United States citizenship is required at time of appointment and maintenance throughout period of employment;

DRIVER'S LICENSE: Candidates must possess a valid New York State Driver's License at time of appointment and maintenance throughout period of employment;

Permanent appointment shall be contingent upon satisfactory completion of an approved municipal basic training program pursuant to Section 209q of the General Municipal Law.

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION/PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION:

Applicants will be subject to an extensive pre-employment background investigation and psychological evaluation. CONVICTION OF A FELONY WILL BAR AND CONVICTION OF A MISDEMEANOR OR OTHER OFFENSE MAY BAR PARTICIPATION IN EXAMINATION AND APPOINTMENT. Criminal convictions or other offense are subject to evaluation and may result in disqualification pursuant to Section 50 of the New York State Civil Service Law. The psychological evaluation will consist of a combination of psychological tests and interviews. Candidates must pass the psychological evaluation. In addition, a negative report or failing psychological evaluation may result in disqualification pursuant to Section 50 of New York State Civil Service Law. Candidates must be a United States Citizen and an Erie County Resident per Public Officers Law at time of appointment. (See guidelines set forth in 9 NYCRR Parts 6000 and 6056, Erie County Policies and Procedures and Section 58 of New York State Civil Service Law regarding Investigative Screening and Psychological Evaluations.)

Notes:

1. ALL candidates must be not less than 19 years of age on or before September 17, 2022.

2. *Active duty military service does NOT include active duty for training.

3. Up to one (1) year of active duty military service may be substituted for education on the basis of one (1) month of active duty equals 2.5 college semester credit hours.

4. Candidates must have a high school diploma or possess a high school equivalency diploma issued by an education department of any State of the United States or hold a comparable diploma issued by any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States or by the Canal Zone or hold a report from the United States armed forces certifying successful completion of the tests of general education development, high school level.

5. ***ALL APPOINTEES MUST HAVE COMPLETED AT LEAST 30 COLLEGE CREDIT HOURS. Your degree and/or college credit must have been awarded by a regionally accredited college or university or one recognized by the New York State Education Department as following acceptable educational practices. A grade of D or better is required for a course to be credited as successfully completed. If your degree and/or college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside of the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. You can write to this Department for a list of acceptable companies providing this service; you must pay the required evaluation fee.

Notice to Candidates: Transcripts will now be accepted by the Department of Personnel ONLY at time of application. All subsequent transcripts must be submitted at time of interview.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION:

A medical examination may be required before appointment.

VETERANS: PROOF OF SERVICE MUST BE SUBMITTED BEFORE LIST IS ESTABLISHED TO RECEIVE ADDITIONAL POINTS. (See application for more information.)

NOTICES TO APPEAR FOR THE EXAMINATION ARE MAILED APPROXIMATELY ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE EXAMINATION DATE

NO CELL PHONES ARE PERMITTED AT THE EXAM SITE.

Examination date:

September 17, 2022

Applications Must Be Postmarked or Hand Delivered By:

July 27, 2022

Scopes / Subjects of examination: A test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

Situational Judgment

These questions test for the ability to identify appropriate and effective responses to work-related challenges. You will be presented with scenarios that reflect the types of challenges one could encounter in a work environment. Each scenario will be followed by several responses to the scenario. You must rate the effectiveness of each response.

Language Fluency

These questions test for the ability to read, understand, and present a clear and accurate summary of information. For some questions, you will be given a brief reading passage followed by four statements, each summarizing the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given several sentences, one of which contains a spelling, grammatical, or punctuation error. You must then select the line that contains the error.

Information Ordering and Language Sequencing

These questions test for the ability to properly identify the sequence or order of events, or to organize information to fit a timeline. You will be given a brief reading passage followed by one or more questions. You must identify the proper sequence of events in order to answer one or more questions.

Problem Sensitivity and Reasoning

These questions test for the ability to apply information and to identify a problem or potential problem. For some questions, you will be given information in the form of policies, rules, regulations, or laws, which will be followed by a situation. You must then identify the problem and apply the information to select the best course of action to take. For other questions, you will be given a scenario and mock witness statements. You must use this information to answer one or more questions about the scenario.

Selective Attention

These questions test for the ability to focus on completing a task and to pay attention to important details while performing repetitive and monotonous tasks. You will be presented with a series of letters, symbols, and/or numbers. You must select the choice that contains the series of letters, symbols, and/or number that matches exactly.

Visualization

These questions test for the ability to imagine how something will look when it is moved around or when its parts are changed, moved, or rearranged. You will be presented with an image of a face followed by four images of faces. Each face is disguised or altered in some way. Three of the images have a difference in facial structure or facial features. You must select the choice that contains the image with the identical facial structure and facial features.

Spatial Orientation

These questions test for the ability to understand how to navigate within spaces or how to get from one point to another. You will be provided with a map followed by one or more questions. You must imagine yourself at a certain location and orient yourself to the direction in which you would move to get to another location by the shortest (least distance) route.

Test guide:

A Guide for the Written Test for Entry-Level Law Enforcement is available at the New York State website: https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm . Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request copy of the test guide from the municipal civil service office conducting this examination using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement.

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES: Use of calculators is Prohibited. Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", “Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited. You may not bring books or other reference materials.

PHYSICAL AGILITY AND MEDICAL EXAMINATION : CANDIDATES WHO PASS THE WRITTEN TEST WILL BE REQUIRED TO PASS A QUALIFYING PHYSICAL AGILITY AND MEDICAL TEST. FAILURE ON EITHER QUALIFYING TEST WILL BAR CANDIDATES FROM APPOINTMENT.

Based on the ranking on the written test, only a sufficient number of candidates needed to fill the present vacancies will be called to take part in an assessment of their physical agility. The agility test consists of bent-leg sit-ups, push-ups, and a 1.5 mile run and measures muscular endurance, muscular endurance of the upper body and cardiovascular activity. The Municipal Police Training Council adopted the physical fitness screening test based on the model formulated by the Cooper Institute of Aerobics Research. The minimum passing scores, depending on age and sex, represent the fortieth (40th) percentile of physical fitness as established by the Cooper Institute. In addition, the standards are available for review at the Erie County Department of Personnel. Agility testing will be performed before candidates are certified to appointing authorities and is expected to begin in spring of 2023.

Candidates who pass the written test and the agility test and receive an offer of employment will receive more detailed information about the medical and physical fitness standards prescribed by the NYS Municipal Police Training Council. Candidates should also be aware that an offer of employment as a Police Officer/Deputy Sheriff-Criminal is contingent upon passing an appropriate medical examination. Both the medical exam and agility test are given on a pass/fail basis. Re-tests will be permitted only in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by the Commissioner of Personnel.

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

APPLICATION FORMS: You may obtain these forms in person at the Erie County Personnel Department, Rath County Office Building, 95 Franklin St., Buffalo. Forms are also available in the libraries and at Town, Village and School District administrative offices.

Mail your application form when completed to the Erie County Department of Personnel, 95 Franklin St., Buffalo, NY 14202.

Candidates who submit incomplete applications and documentation may be disqualified. The Erie County Department of Personnel reserves the right to reject for lateness or to accept applications filed after the advertised filing period.

MILITARY STATUS: Active duty military personnel may file an application for this exam. A special military make-up examination will be conducted for any member of the armed forces of the United States who has duly filed a timely application but who was deprived of the opportunity to compete in the scheduled exam due to active military duty. Special conditions apply to these requests and may be reviewed at the Erie County Department of Personnel.

VETERANS: Disabled and non-disabled veterans as defined in Section 85, New York State Civil Service Law, will have 10 and 5 points, respectively added to their earned scores if successful in the OPEN examination. You must claim these credits when you file application but you have an option to waive them any time prior to appointment. If you have already used these credits for a permanent position in NYS, you may not claim them again.

In conformance with section 85-a of the Civil Service Law, CHILDREN OF FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY shall be entitled to receive an additional ten points in a competitive examination for original appointment in the same municipality in which his or her parent has served. If you are qualified to participate in this examination and are a child of a firefighter or police officer killed in the line of duty in this municipality, please inform this office of this matter when you submit your application for examination. A candidate claiming such credit has a minimum of two months from the application deadline to provide the necessary documentation to verify additional credit eligibility. However, no credit may be added after the eligible list has been established.

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS: Applicants whose religious beliefs prevent their taking examinations before sundown on Saturday and physically handicapped candidates who require special examination facilities should so inform the Erie County Department of Personnel, by a separately mailed letter at the earliest possible date before the test.

MORE THAN ONE EXAM ON THE SAME DAY: If you have applied for more than one exam on the same day you MUST make arrangements to take ALL of the examinations at ONE examination test site. If you have applied for both STATE and LOCAL government examinations taking place on the same day, you must take all of your examinations at the STATE examination center. If you have applied for both COUNTY and CITY government examinations taking place on the same day, you must take all of your examinations at the COUNTY examination center. You are responsible to notify EACH Civil Service Agency no later than TWO WEEKS before the examination date on which you are taking multiple examinations by submitting a Cross-Filer form; EACH Civil Service Agency has their own Cross-Filer form. The Erie County Cross-Filer form can be found at https://www3.erie.gov/employment/sites/www3.erie.gov.employment/files/2… . If you are taking multiple exams on the same date for Erie County only, you do not have to file a Cross-Filer form.

Candidates taking more than one exam in DIFFERENT exam series will be allowed the specified length of time for each exam, up to a maximum of eight hours. Example: If you are taking one exam which allows six hours and another exam in a different series which allows four hours, you must complete both tests in eight hours, but no more time can be spent on each exam than the time allotted for that exam. Candidates taking more than one exam in the SAME exam series will be allowed up to the specified length of time for each exam. Example: If you are taking two exams in the same series with a maximum time of five hours for each exam, you can spend no more than five hours to complete both exams.

ADMISSION TO EXAMINATION: Notice to appear for the test will be conditional as review of application for minimum requirements may not be made until after the written test. Call or write this Department if you have not received your notice 3 days before the date of the test. You may not be admitted to the examination room without official notice.

RATINGS REQUIRED: Tests are rated on a scale of 100 with a passing mark at 70. Unless the announcement states otherwise, you must pass the written test and the oral test, if any. Test instructions may further divide the tests into parts and set minimum standards for each part.

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE: If a subject of the examination, training and experience may not be rated if all passing candidates are expected to be immediately reachable for appointment. If rated, training and experience will be based on the statements in your application subject to verification. If this examination includes a qualifying written test, candidates admitted to the test will have conditional approval only. Final decision regarding the qualifications of candidates rests with the New York State Department of Civil Service.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION: You may be required to take a medical examination to determine if you are medically and physically capable of performing the duties of the position. In accordance with State Law, Governor’s Executive Order 6, and Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended the County of Erie does not discriminate against handicapped persons in access to employment, during employment, or in any of its programs and activities.

VERIFICATION OF QUALIFICATIONS: Candidates may be investigated or called for an interview to verify information contained on the application. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience may be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements.

ELIGIBLE LIST: The eligible list resulting from an examination may also be used for appointment to the same title or to any other title deemed to be similar and appropriate. Eligible lists are active for a minimum of one year and a maximum of four years from the date established.

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION (*including psychological evaluation when required by position): Candidates may be subject to a thorough background investigation or psychological evaluation when required to determine eligibility for appointment. Applicants may be required to authorize access to educational, employment, criminal history and other records check as part of such investigation or participate in related tests or interviews. Criminal convictions or other offense are subject to evaluation and may result in disqualification pursuant to Section 50 of the New York State Civil Service Law. Applicant will be required to submit the necessary fees for the fingerprint processing, where required. (*If a psychological evaluation is required, it shall be specified in the minimum qualifications or special requirements for the position.)

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $30.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.

APPLICATION FEE WAIVER: A waiver of application fee will be allowed if you are unemployed and primarily responsible for the support of a household. In addition, a waiver of application fee will be allowed if you are determined eligible for Medicaid, or receiving Supplemental Security Income payments, or Public Assistance (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families/Family Assistance or Safety Net Assistance) or are certified Job Training Partnership Act/Workforce Investment Act eligible through a State or local social service agency.

All claims for application fee waiver are subject to verification. If you can verify eligibility for application fee waiver, complete a “Request for Application Fee Waiver and Certification: form and submit it with your application by the close of business on the Application Deadline as listed on the Examination Announcement. The form is available at the Erie County Personnel Department, 95 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY (Room 604) or can be found on the County’s website at www.erie.gov , “Civil Service Exams”, then “How to Apply”.

This examination is prepared and rated by the New York State Department of Civil Service, and held in compliance with the New York State Civil Service Law and the rules and regulations of the New York State Department of Civil Service.