Police Pursue Two New Hires For Full Roster

By Andrew Gorosko

Sixteen candidates for the position of police patrol officer will have their initial job interviews later this month in the police department’s quest to recruit two new officers.

Filling those two positions would bring the police department’s roster up to its full complement of 47 sworn police officers, Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week.

The 16 job candidates were among the 42 people who took both written tests and physical tests for the position of patrol officer on Saturday, April 12, at Newtown High School.

Forty-nine people had applied to take the tests, but only 42 showed up for the testing. Of the 49 initial applicants, 41 were male and eight were female.

The current annual starting pay for a police patrol officer is $44,895, plus benefits.

Chief Kehoe said the Police Commission plans to hire two new officers in June. Those recruits would start police training in July.

Besides the 16 candidates who do not have police officer training certifications, the Police Commission also is considering hiring other people who already have received their police officer training certifications, Chief Kehoe said.

The current police hiring process follows a period during which there has been rapid job turnover at the police department.

Based on its job interviews, the Police Commission develops a list of job candidates who would receive conditional offers of employment, provided that those candidates meet applicable hiring standards.

Potential employees are subject to medical examinations, psychological testing, polygraph tests, and personal background checks. The lengthy police hiring process is designed to find the people who are best suited for police work.

Applicants must be at least 21 years old at the time of their appointment as a police officer. They must have a high school diploma or a high school equivalency diploma. They must be a US citizen. They must have a valid driver’s license. They must not have any convictions for felonies, or for Class A or Class B misdemeanors.

After his or her hiring, a new police officer attends the Connecticut Municipal Police Academy in Meriden for 21 weeks and then undergoes 16 weeks of local field training before beginning independent patrol work.

The police training process for people who already have police officer certifications is relatively shorter, based their specific training backgrounds.

Newtown police held their last round of written and physical testing for new police officers in May 2007. That testing resulted in police hiring several new officers during the past year.