Promotional Schools and Examinations

Promotional Schools

• Promotion schools and written competitive promotional examinations notices are to be posted on official bulletin boards in the Department.
• Notices must be posted at least six weeks before the beginning of schools and examinations.
• The start date of the written competitive examination serves as the cut-off date for calculating the required membership periods for testing eligibility.
• Eligible members wanting to participate in promotional schools and exams must notify the Commission in writing at least one week before the school date.
• Rules for promotion to a specific vacancy are those in effect at least 30 days prior to when the vacancy occurred.
• A promotional school is held approximately every two years
• Individual schools might be held for Captains, Lieutenants, Sergeants, or Detectives.
• The Commission can choose to conduct one school for all eligible members of the Department.
• The Commission sets and enforces the rules for conducting promotional schools and can hire instructors who are not members of the Department.
• Registered members of the Department may attend the promotional school, and attendance is compulsory if ordered by the Chief with the Commission's approval.
• Members of the Department will get advance notice and the chance to register for school attendance and attendance is mandatory unless approved by the Commission.
• The Department may repeat certain class sessions to ensure adequate staffing, presenting the subject material identically when possible.

Eligibility

• A police department member is ineligible for promotion for six months after violating regulations resulting in pay forfeiture or suspension from duty.

Promotion - Standards

• All department members must meet the time of service standards for promotion.
• All service in a probationary or permanent rank counts toward "time of service" unless stated otherwise.
• Promotions to any probationary rank must be from the next immediate lower permanent rank.
• The person to be promoted must be qualified in time of service.
• The rank of detective and corporal are considered equal, but are not a required rank before testing for sergeant.
• To be eligible to test for detective, a member must be a patrolman for at least two years.
• To be eligible to test for sergeant, a member must have been a patrolman, detective, or corporal for at least five years.
• To be eligible to test for lieutenant, a sergeant must have been a member of the Department for at least seven years.
• To be eligible to test for captain, a lieutenant must have been a member of the Department for at least nine years.

Promotion Factors

• Three factors are basic considerations for rating a member for promotion when a vacancy occurs.
• The grade on the member's latest written competitive promotional examination.
• The member's latest four past performance records.
• The seniority acquired by the member for years of service in the Department.

Rating of Members

• Members are rated (and placed on an eligibility list for each rank) using a composite number of points based on a perfect score of 100%, split into 50%, 40%, and 10% categories.
• 50% of the rating is based on the last grade on the current written promotional examination eligibility list.
• 40% of the rating is based on past performance ratings when a vacancy occurs.
• 10% of the rating is based on the member's years of service, calculated to the date of the vacancy, at 0.5% for each full year served, with no credit for partial years.

Written Competitive Promotional Examinations

• The written competitive promotional exam comes after the promotional school and includes questions about material presented, but isn't limited to those questions.
• Exams are originally graded out of 100% for a perfect score, and this score is converted to a 50% factor for calculating composite ratings for promotion.
• Any eligible member of the Department may take a written promotional exam, except a member demoted for cause cannot write one within two years of the demotion's effective date.
• With the Commission's approval, the Chief may allow a member who hasn't attended promotional school to take the written competitive promotional exam.
• A member under suspension, awaiting a hearing, or under appeal may attend promotional school and take the exam if otherwise eligible, but cannot test for a rank they already hold.
• The score from the competitive written exam is placed on a written promotional examination eligibility list, expiring when a new school and exam are conducted.
• The new exam score supersedes previous scores
• The score on the current written promotional examination eligibility list is added to performance and seniority points when a vacancy occurs.
• The Commission administers the preparation and grading of the written competitive promotional examinations.
• The person grading exams cannot know the name of the member who wrote the exam being graded.
• If more than one-third of members taking an exam for any rank fail to score 70%, the Commission can prepare a new exam for all members
• A second exam is not permitted if one-third of the members score 70% or higher on the original grading.
• A member serving as Chief can take the written competitive promotional exam per their permanent rank, and the score is placed on the list for consideration if they are no longer Chief.
• The Commission prepares the written promotional examination eligibility list and advises members of their exam results.
• Any member aggrieved by the grade on the written competitive exam can appeal in writing to the Commission within 10 days of notification.
• The Commission will review the grade as appropriate.

Past Performance Promotional Rating

• Past performance rating used in computing the composite number of points for rating a member for promotion is the arithmetic average of the member's last four performance rating scores within two years before the vacancy date.
• If less than four ratings have been made, the number of ratings received in the two-year period are used.

Seniority Rating

• Seniority rating used in computing the composite number of points for rating a member is calculated to the vacancy date at 0.5% for each full year of service in the Department.