How New Jersey civil service towns hire police and corrections officers

The rules fill a vacancy by promotional examination unless the Commission's Chair or a designee decides an open competitive examination is in the interest of the career service, and one of the listed conditions is that the vacancy is in an entrance level title. That open competitive examination is how an outsider gets in.^[2]An applicant has to meet the announcement's requirements by the closing date and file on time. For Municipal Police Officer the rule sets an age limit: applicants must be under 35 on the closing date. Former officers listed in the rule who left in good standing, and veterans, may adjust their age as the rule describes. The Commission may take one application for several title areas, such as police, sheriff and corrections.

Exam dates, filing windows and the title specifications are on NJ Civil Service Navigator, which tracks upcoming civil service examinations and publishes the Police Officer job specification. The minutes record 3 law enforcement list removal appeals where age was the stated basis.

Every open competitive announcement states the New Jersey residency requirement of P.L. 2011, c. 70, and a local employer may add its own residency ordinance.^[3]Local residence means a single legal residence, judged by factors the rule lists: ownership or rental, where the person actually spends time, the address on a driver's license and voter registration, and where children living with the person attend school. A post office box does not count. Unless otherwise specified, residency is met by the closing date, and where an employer requires it at appointment it must be kept continuously until then. The applicant carries the burden of proving residence on appeal. 5 law enforcement list removals in the record turned on residency.

Passing candidates are ranked, but not by score alone. On an open competitive list, disabled veterans come first in score order, then veterans, then non-veterans.^[4]Ties in score and veterans' status are not broken. The rule's own worked example ranks the candidate with the highest score third, behind a disabled veteran who scored ten points lower and two veterans. The preference sets a candidate's place on the list; it adds no points to the score.

When a department is ready to hire, the Commission certifies names from the list. From an open competitive or promotional list the appointing authority may appoint any one of the top three interested eligibles, subject to the veterans' ordering above, and it must report how it disposed of the certification by the due date.^[5] Missing that date can lead to a constructive appointment or other remedies. A candidate passed over in favor of a lower-ranked one may appeal; the bypass and certification record covers those appeals.

Before appointment the department investigates, and it may ask the Commission to remove a name. The reasons the rules allow include the disqualifications in N.J.A.C. 4A:4-6.1 (lacking the job requirements, being physically or psychologically unfit, a material false statement in the selection process, a prior employment history that relates adversely to the title), a criminal record that adversely relates to the job, mail returned as undeliverable and not following the instructions on a certification notice.^[6][7]For a criminal record the rule lists factors to weigh, and for law enforcement and corrections titles a pardon or an expungement does not prevent removal, as it would in most other titles. The department has to send the Commission its documents and arguments by the certification's disposition date, and must give the candidate copies on request or on appeal.

Of the 474 law enforcement list removal appeals in the minutes, the stated grounds were most often psychological evaluation (166), falsification or omission (81), background check (65), criminal record (61). The background and list removal page breaks every basis down by outcome.

A candidate may appeal a removal in writing, naming the examination title and symbol, the action appealed, the objections and the relief requested, and must serve copies on every other party.^[8] The candidate carries the burden of proof, except in a medical or psychological disqualification, where the appointing authority does. An appeal does not stop the list, a certification or an appointment unless the Commission or its Chair orders otherwise. In the record, the Commission granted 177 of these appeals (37%), granted 2 in part and denied 282 (59%).

A department may require a medical or psychological examination only after an offer of employment and before appointment, and only if every candidate offered the job is examined.^[9]A removal request has to come with a report from a licensed physician, psychologist or psychiatrist. The candidate has 20 days to appeal and 90 calendar days to submit a report from a professional of the candidate's own choosing. Psychological grounds account for 166 of the law enforcement list removal appeals, more than any other basis; the psychological evaluation page sets out the procedure and every decision.

An eligible generally cannot be appointed after the list expires, with narrow exceptions for military or approved leave, a revived or extended list, and a certification made just before expiration.^[10] A regular appointment then begins a working test period, which the rules describe as part of the examination process.^[11] For entry level law enforcement, correction officer, correctional police officer and juvenile detention officer titles it lasts 12 months, against three months for most local titles. A local officer who has to complete police training does not begin the period until the Police Training Commission reports success, although the major discipline rules apply from the date of appointment.^[12] The record holds 8 law enforcement matters about a working test period.