[1997 Code § 69-7; Ord. No. 19-00]
The Mayor of the City of Absecon in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118 et seq. shall appoint the Chief of Police and other such officers as may be required with the advice and consent of Council. In accordance with its obligations to have appointments based upon merit and fitness, the Council of the City will confirm only those Officers who have successfully taken and completed a promotional Sergeant's and Lieutenant's examination as herein set forth.
[1997 Code § 69-8; Ord. No. 19-00]
A. 
Examinations will be conducted for promotions to the rank of Sergeant and Lieutenant with the administering of a promotional exam.
B. 
Only those Officers deemed eligible by these procedures will be permitted to take part in the promotional examination, (see Section 69-14 for eligibility).
C. 
All promotional examinations will consist of all the elements as outlined in Section 69-15 of these procedures.
D. 
Administration of these procedures will be in conformance with the guidelines outlined herein and in accordance with specific test rules as outlined in Section 69-16.
E. 
Officers who suffer from a demotion in rank for just cause other than for budgetary reasons shall not be permitted to take a promotional examination for a period of three years beginning when the demotion took effect. Any officer demoted for disciplinary reasons, upon re-promotion shall not retain any seniority rights owing to that rank.
F. 
All promotions to the rank of Sergeant and above shall be subject to a six-month probation period which can be extended an additional six months at the discretion of the Mayor for just cause. Officers not successfully completing their probationary period will, for just cause, be subject to demotion to their previous rank.
G. 
All qualified officers will be considered for all promotions for which they are eligible without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, politics or personal favoritism, except as may be permitted by law.
H. 
The written and oral examination for Sergeants and Lieutenants will be conducted by the Examination Committee as provided for in Section 69-16 of these procedures.
[1997 Code § 69-9; Ord. No. 22-99; Ord. No. 19-00; Ord. No. 08-2008]
A. 
To qualify to sit for the promotional examination one must comply with the following eligibility requirements:
(1) 
To sit for the Sergeants' examination a candidate shall:
(a) 
Have served as a patrolman in the Absecon Police Department.
(b) 
Be a present member of the Absecon Police Department.
(c) 
Have served as a full-time member of the Absecon Police Department for at least five years continuously, next preceding the examination date.
(d) 
Have acquired as a minimum an Associate's Degree in Law Enforcement or 64 credits towards a Bachelor's Degree, in Criminal Justice from an accredited college or university.
(2) 
To sit for the Lieutenants' examination a candidate shall:
(a) 
Have served as a Police Officer in the Absecon Police Department.
(b) 
Be a present member of the Absecon Police Department.
(c) 
Have held the rank of Sergeant in the Absecon Police Department for at least three years, including acting and permanent time, which must be continuous and uninterrupted, next preceding the date of the written examination.
(d) 
Have acquired as a minimum an Associate's Degree in Law Enforcement or 64 credits towards a Bachelor's Degree, in Criminal Justice from an accredited college or university.
B. 
For the appointment to the position of Chief of Police, a candidate shall:
(1) 
Have served as a Police Officer in the Absecon Police Department for a minimum of 10 years.
(2) 
Be at present a sworn Police Officer in the Absecon Police Department.
(3) 
Have held the rank of Sergeant or above in the Absecon Police Department for a period of time not less than three years.
(4) 
Have acquired a minimum of a Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university.
[1997 Code § 69-10; Ord. No. 22-99; Ord. No. 19-00]
All tests for the position of Lieutenant and Sergeant and point allocations shall be prepared for the Sergeants' and Lieutenants' examination and administered in accordance with the guidelines as set forth herein:
A. 
Written Test: Shall consist of law enforcement material related to the rank of Sergeant for the Sergeant examination and law enforcement material related to the rank of Lieutenant for the Lieutenant examination as determined by the Examination Committee. Each Officer taking the written examination must be given the exact same test. A maximum of 25 points will be allocated for the test. The allocation will be established by the Examination Committee.
B. 
Oral Test: Shall consist of questions prepared by the Examination Committee just prior to the time of the test. Questions must be related to the law enforcement professional and for the rank of Sergeant and/or for the rank of Lieutenant for a determination by the Examination Committee. Each officer taking the oral examination must be asked the same question(s). A maximum of 25 points will be allocated for the test. The allocation will be established by the Examination Committee.
C. 
College Achievement: For obtaining the advantages of a higher education from an accredited college or university, a maximum of 10 points are to be allocated according to the following schedule:
(1) 
Sixty-four Credit hours/Associate's: four points.
(2) 
Ninety-six hours: six points.
(3) 
One hundred twenty-eight Credit hours/Bachelor's: eight points.
(4) 
One hundred sixty hours/masters: 10 points.
D. 
Evaluation. Evaluations by the Chief of Police shall be in the following four areas of Officer performance (as noted in Section 69-16F. Officers demonstrated:
(1) 
Performance.
(2) 
Leadership.
(3) 
Responsibility.
(4) 
Knowledge.
These are the four areas to be considered in evaluating the Officer's performance. A total of 20 points are to be allocated for job performance and range from zero to 20 points. The evaluations as explained in this Section 69-15 are not bound to the following breakdown but rather that is presented merely as a guide:
Excellent
20 points
Good
15 points
Fair
10 points
Needs Improvement
5 points
Poor
0 points
E. 
Seniority:
(1) 
Credit will be given for each year of completed full-time Police service as a Police Officer with the Absecon Police Department.
(2) 
A maximum of 25 points will be allocated with one point given for each year of service.
[1997 Code § 69-11; Ord. No. 19-00; Ord. No. 05-23008; Ord. No. 08-2008]
All tests for the position of Lieutenants and Sergeants shall be conducted in accordance with the following rules and regulations:
A. 
Promotion tests will be conducted on weekdays between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.; preferably at a municipally owned building.
B. 
A notice of the test shall be posted on the Police Department bulletin board at least 30 days prior to the test date.
C. 
Any Officer who is eligible and wants to take the test must notify the Chief in writing at least seven days prior to the test date. The Chief shall provide a final list of all eligible applicants to the Mayor.
D. 
Any Officer scheduled to take a promotional test may be excused from duty for 24 hours prior to the time of the test without pay or compensatory time.
E. 
All employees who take the text will be allowed to see their own test and the grades received after the official results are announced and posted within 14 days of such posting.
F. 
Job performance evaluations will be completed by the Chief, prior to the examination. Evaluations will be compiled on the Supervisory Rating Form designed for evaluating Police Officers in determining point allocation. The Chief will base his evaluations of Officers by generally acceptable Police standards and comparison among other Officers taking the promotional examination. Standardly accepted valuation techniques, i.e., ranking paired comparisons, etc. shall be used in evaluating Officers.
G. 
The written and oral test will be given by the New Jersey Chief's Association Examination Committee. If for some reason the New Jersey Police Chief's Association cannot conduct the tests an impartial examination committee may be agreed upon by the Mainland PBA Local #77 and the City of Absecon to conduct the testing. It is the full responsibility of the Examination Committee to determine the content and confidentiality of the examination with the guidelines as provided for by these procedures.
H. 
At least two Chiefs or Examiners will be required to administer the written and oral tests. No one conducting the testing may reside or be employed in Atlantic County nor have any personal knowledge of any of the candidates taking the examination.
I. 
Scoring and grading of the written and oral tests results will be completed by the Examination Committee.
J. 
The Examination Committee will forward the test results and the grades received for the written and oral tests by sealed envelope to the Chief of Mayor within five working days of the completion of the examination.
K. 
The Mayor along with the Chief will take the test results which were forwarded by the Examination Committee and compute according to the point schedule established in these procedures, with all points and earned in the written and oral portions. They will add those points due each Officer according to the schedule for job performance, seniority and college achievement. The complete total or accumulated points will be the Officer's score for promotional purposes. Officers must receive 70 total accumulated points to be considered for the promotion.
L. 
Promotions must be made according to the standing of the Officers and in the exact order of the list established by the testing. A promotional list will be valid for a period of two years from the date of the test.
M. 
In the event that two or more candidates achieve the same final score, a resident shall be appointed rather than a nonresident. In the event that more than one achieving the same final score is a resident or in the event that all achieving the same final score average are nonresidents, the Chief and Mayor shall have the responsibility of selecting the Officer to be promoted form among those with the same final average score, in the event that the Chief and Mayor cannot agree on the selection as indicated above, then a Committee consisting of the Mayor, Chief and three City Council members of the Public Safety Committee shall make the selection of the Officer to be promoted.