Employment

HOW TO APPLY:  Applications and information may be obtained from the Warren County Department of Civil Service Administration, or from the web site: www.warrencountyny.gov/civilservice     Application/exam fee must be submitted to the Warren County Civil Service Administration before the close of business at 4:30p.m. on the last filing date listed on the Examination Announcement.  Applications received via U.S. Mail will be accepted only if postmarked on or before the last filing date. You are responsible for completing ALL sections of the official application.  To receive credit for experience on a job, basic information such as address, name and title of supervisor, hours in the workweek, final salary, etc. must be shown.  Ambiguity and vagueness WILL NOT be resolved in your favor.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

EDUCATION: Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma. Applicants who do not possess a high school or equivalency diploma are eligible to take the examination but will not be eligible for appointment until they obtain such diploma.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

AGE: Candidates must be at least 19 years old on or before the scheduled exam date to be admitted to the written test. Eligibility for appointment begins when a candidate reaches age 20.

Candidates who reach their 35^th birthday on or before the date of the written exam are not qualified 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 purposes of determining whether they meet 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 the agency’s alternate test date policy) are advised to contact Warren County Civil Service Administration.

NOTE: Submit proof of age with application (copy of license or birth certificate, or other proof of age).

CITIZENSHIP: United States Citizenship is required at the time of appointment.

DRIVER’S LICENSE: Candidates must possess a valid New York State Operator’s license at the time of appointment and throughout the tenure of employment in the position.

DUTIES:  The work involves responsibility for the enforcement of laws, ordinances and protection of lives and property. These duties consist primarily of routine foot or car patrol tasks, assisting in criminal investigations and the apprehension of criminals. Work assignments are performed under the supervision of a higher ranking officer; however, with leeway provided for exercise of sound judgment in emergency or life threatening situations. Does related work as required.

SUBJECTS OF EXAM: There will be a written test, which you must pass, in order to be considered for appointment.  Only your score on the written test will be considered when computing your final score. In addition, candidates must meet the physical fitness and medical standards prescribed by the Municipal Police Training Council.  Candidates must pass the written test in order to be scheduled for the qualifying physical fitness test. The physical fitness test(s) will be scheduled and held as the needs of the service require. Candidates who pass the qualifying physical fitness test and who are given a conditional offer of employment will be scheduled to take the required medical examination including drug testing.

WRITTEN TEST:  The written test will be designed to test for knowledge, skills and/or abilities in the following areas:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Problem Sensitivity & 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, laws, 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.
5. 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 numbers that matches exactly.
6. 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.
7. 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 you would move to get to another location in the shortest (least distance) route.

The rating key for this examination will be established by the New York State Civil Service Commission prior to the date of the test, upon recommendation of a committee of police experts who will review all the questions for appropriateness and the key answers for correctness. There will be no review of the questions by candidates. This committee was selected with the assistance and endorsement of the Police Conference of New York, Inc., the New York State Association of PBA’s, Inc., the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police, Inc., and the NYS Sheriff’s Association.

NOTE: A “Guide to Taking a Written Test for the Law Enforcement Official, Entry Level Series” is available at the New York State website:www.cs.ny.gov/testing/localtestguides.cfm. Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request a copy of the test guide from the Warren County Department of Civil Service Administration using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement.

NOTE: Use of a calculator is PROHIBITED for this exam. Devices with typewriter keyboards, Spell Checker, Personal Digital Assistants, Address Books, Language Translators, Dictionaries, or any similar devices are PROHIBITED. No books or reference material will be allowed into the exam site. Cell phones are PROHIBITED.

QUALIFYING PHYSICAL FITNESS TEST: The elements measured in the qualifying physical fitness test are listed below:

Sit-Up: Muscular Endurance (core body) – The requirement is for a number of bent-leg sit-ups to be performed in one minute.

Push-Up: Muscular Endurance (upper body) – This test measures muscular endurance of the upper body. The requirement is for a number of full-body repetitions that a candidate must complete without breaks.

1.5 Mile Run: Cardiovascular Activity – 1.5 mile run; the requirement is for the attainment of a score calculated in minutes and seconds.

The Municipal Police Training Council adopted the physical fitness screening test. The minimum passing scores, represent the fortieth (40th) percentile of fitness. If a candidate does not successfully score to the 40th percentile of fitness for each of the elements of the test battery, the candidate’s name will be removed from further consideration for appointment.

Failure to appear for a scheduled physical fitness test will be considered an unqualified declination and the name of the candidate may be removed from further consideration.

Failure on any part of the qualifying physical fitness test will remove a candidate’s name from further consideration for appointment, and there will be no opportunity for retest.

The qualifying physical fitness test is valid for one (1) year, regardless of the length of validity of the eligible list.  Therefore, candidates may be required to participate in the Physical Fitness test more than once if they have not earned appointment within one (1) year from the date of a Physical Fitness Test.