Washington police to replenish civil service list
In this April 2018 photo, Cody Klempay, right, of Washington, is among those running as part of the physical fitness testing to be a Washington police officer.
Celeste Van Kirk
Celeste Van Kirk
Jay Hanley of Jefferson jumps over a six-foot wall as part of the physical fitness testing to be a city of Washington police officer in this 2018 photo.
{child_flags:featured}Washington Police Department set to replenish civil service list
{child_byline}By Katie Anderson
Staff writer
kanderson@observer-reporter.com
{/child_byline}
Washington Police Department will be replenishing its civil service list with some of the 24 applicants who recently underwent testing.
While other municipalities are not necessarily required to hire through a civil service process, Washington, a third-class city, must abide by the state’s regulations on hiring.
“Civil service is a defined hiring process,” said Bill Gamble, an independent civil service consultant.
“Every police officer and firefighter in a third-class city has to be hired through civil service. North Strabane and South Strabane, for example, are second-class townships, so they don’t have to have civil service. But they do have a similar hiring process because they don’t want to have discrimination.”
From advertising for applicants to presenting a final civil service list to city council, it is about a two-month long process with pros and cons, according to Washington Police Capt. Steve Robertson.
“The pros are that it’s a fair process,” he said. “Not one person has an edge over another.”
However, he said the process limits departments in that they are mandated to pick from the list in order of the ranked test scores.
“You have no control over how people fall on the list,” he said. “There were some people that applied for this past test that have been in police work for years, but because they don’t test well, they dropped out.”
The department’s list had been depleted, with just two people on it, after the city received only six applications last year. Since state law requires the department to maintain a list of at least three people, testing had to be conducted again this year, even though the list doesn’t expire for two years.
Robertson said of the six applicants tested in July, one failed the agility test, one failed the written aptitude test, one was hired by another police department and one was hired as a Washington police officer. That left two people on the list, and in order to present the list to city council for a new hire, at least three had to be on it.
Police Chief Robert Wilson said the department decided to advertise the civil service test on social media to try to draw a larger pool of applicants. He said he advertised the testing on multiple community Facebook pages and on a large billboard along Interstate 70 for two weeks. By the March 9 deadline, 32 applications had been received.
“Social media was the huge difference,” Wilson said.
In order to apply for the testing, applicants must have completed or be enrolled in a police academy, often referred to as Act 120 training. Of the 32 applicants this year, 26 showed up on testing day March 29.
The agility test, which includes a timed quarter-mile run, a 6-foot wall climb, a trigger pull, a 200-pound stretcher carry, a 175-pound dummy drag, a weighted bar lift and several floor exercises, knocked out two of the applicants.
The remaining 24 went on to take the written test. Cody Klempay, 24, of Washington, was one of them. Klempay graduated from the criminal justice program at Waynesburg University in December. He’s now working through the police academy at California University of Pennsylvania.
“This is the first test I’ve applied for,” he said, while waiting for the written test to be distributed.
The test, which Wilson compared to a General Education Development test, was distributed by Gamble, whom the city contracted to give and grade the tests. Robertson said 22 of the 24 passed the test and will receive a letter informing them of their score next week. They will also receive the date of their oral interview with a panel of retired Washington police chiefs and officers.
“The oral examination consists of preplanned questions,” Robertson said. “Typically, the panel will ask ethical questions and what the applicant’s response would be to those questions.”
Following background checks, the passing scores of the tests and interviews are totaled and ranked on the civil service list. Veterans receive an additional 10 points. The top three are brought before council for consideration when there is a position to fill. If any of those three are veterans, they get preference, Robertson said.
That time may come in September, Wilson said, as the department may have a retirement and the need to fill a position from that list.
Similarly, the city’s fire department is looking to hire from its civil service list by May. The department will have a position to fill as Chief Linn Brookman will be retiring at the end of this month and the number of city firefighters should be kept at 22. The city plans to hire a new chief from within the department, Brookman said.
The fire department’s civil service list, last updated in the fall, has 21 names on it. In October, 28 applicants went through similar testing procedures.
Brookman said no knowledge of firefighting is necessary to take the tests, but the physical agility test is given at the station and has to be completed in full firefighting gear. In seven minutes, the applicants must complete a fire hose drag, equipment carry, ladder raise, dummy drag and a wall scale.
Those who pass the agility test move on to the aptitude test, similar to the one given to police applicants. Then they go through an interview given by local fire chiefs. The scores are ranked and the same preferences are given to veterans.