Borough of River Edge, NJ Promotional Policy for Chiefs

The Borough of River Edge Governing Body desires to promote the most qualified candidate to the position of Police Chief. This article establishes the eligibility requirements and the process for promotion to Police Chief. The promotion process shall be on the basis of merit, experience, education, demonstrated ability, competitive examinations and an interview. In accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:14-129, the promotion of any officer shall be made from the membership of the River Edge Police Department. No person shall be eligible for promotion to Police Chief unless he or she shall have served as a full-time police officer in the Borough of River Edge Police Department for a period of 10 years or more. Promotions to the rank of Police Chief shall be open to members of the next lowest rank who have served at least two years in said rank, unless the Mayor and Council, in the best interest of the Department, choose to test a wider pool of candidates, in which case they may open testing to the next lower rank and/or reduce the length of time requirement in rank.

The Borough Administrator shall announce the promotional process to members of the Department at least 90 days before any written examination is to be given. The announcement shall be posted in common areas of the Department accessible to all members. The announcement shall contain, at a minimum, the rank to be filled and the dates of the exams. Candidates who qualify shall notify the Borough Administrator of his or her interest in taking the examination by submitting a letter of interest no later than 10 calendar days after the promotion announcement. Failure to do so shall render the officer ineligible to participate in the process.

Promotional testing procedure. The promotional testing procedure for the Borough of River Edge Police Department may consist of the following: a written examination, an oral examination, a record review and an interview with the Mayor and Council. The Mayor and Council reserve the right to waive the oral examination and shall so notify any applicant when the initial announcement for the promotional process is posted.

(1)

Written examinations: The written examination shall be supplied by a professional testing company, professional law enforcement organization (e.g., State Chiefs of Police Association, International Chiefs of Police Association, etc.). To proceed to the oral examination of the examination procedure, a candidate must achieve a minimum score of 70% on the written examination.

(2)

Oral examinations: Candidates will be notified, in writing, of their successful or unsuccessful completion of the written portion of the exam by the Borough Administrator or his designee. The oral examination shall take place after the receipt of the written examination results. A standardized interview will be conducted by an outside agency (e.g., Chiefs of Police Association, International Chiefs of Police Association, etc.) by a board of three examiners, at least one of which shall be a personnel evaluator from the outside testing agency. None of the evaluators shall be an officer, employee, resident or relative thereof, of the Borough of River Edge or of any of the candidates.

(a)

The testing organization shall assign each candidate an identification number, which shall be the only identification used when the written and oral examination is graded. The identification numbers of all candidates for promotion shall be posted on a pass/fail basis only. A complete master list of the actual results of the written and oral examination shall be placed under seal and retained in the office of the Borough Administrator and shall not be revealed to the Mayor and Council until after the interview and record review of the applicants are complete.

(3)

Record review and interview by the Mayor and Council. Candidates that successfully achieve a minimum score of 70% on the written examination and received a satisfactory psychological examination, if applicable, shall proceed to the next step in the promotional process, the review of service record and interview. The interview shall be conducted by the Mayor and Council. The record review shall be conducted by the Borough Administrator, Mayor, Council Police Liaison and one Councilperson of the Personnel Subcommittee.

(a)

The interview with the Mayor and Council shall focus on, but not be limited to, leadership and management skills, knowledge of the Borough of River Edge's form of government, knowledge of the Police Department Ordinance, familiarity with the municipal budget process, the Police Department budget in particular, staff/resource allocations and knowledge of N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118. The Mayor and Council shall also consider the results of a Department evaluation/peer review of each candidate. The Department evaluation/peer review shall be conducted by the Borough Administrator, Mayor, Council Police Liaison and one Councilperson of the Personnel Subcommittee. The Mayor and Council shall grade each candidate on a forty-point scale and shall ask each candidate the identical questions and the Borough Clerk will keep written records of each candidate's responses to same.

(b)

The Borough Administrator, Mayor, Council Police Liaison and one Councilperson of the Personnel Subcommittee shall examine the personnel jacket of each candidate and give specific weight to each category and grade each candidate on a ten-point scale. The weight of each category of the record review shall be the maximum of the following points in each of the enumerated categories as follows:

Category		Points
Specialized training (e.g,. FBI Academy)		0 to 3
Each completed course +1 point to a total of 3 points.
Education
Candidate only gets the point(s) associated with the highest educational degree attained and not the point(s) for each separate education degree.
Associate's degree		1
Bachelor's degree		2
Master's degree		3
Doctorate degree		5
Military Experience
Active duty or reserve duty: candidate only gets the highest of the following point(s).
Any enlisted rank		1
Any officer rank		2
Disciplinary Actions
Each major sustained discipline (more than 5 days). All previous sustained disciplinary actions shall be considered and reviewed to achieve the broadest scope of review for the given candidate by his/her supervisors.		-2

(4)

The weight or percentage of each portion of the process shall be as follows:

(a)

Written examination: 30%.

(b)

Oral examination: 20%.

(c)

Record review: 10%.

(d)

Mayor and Council interview: 40%.

Candidates shall be ranked based on their overall cumulative scores. The candidate with the highest overall score shall be voted on by the Mayor and Council as the Police Chief.

Where two or more candidates are ranked equally pursuant to the promotional procedure set forth herein, preference shall be given to the candidate with the most seniority in service pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:14-129.