Borough of Fort Lee, NJ Article II Police Cadet Program

[Derived from Ch. II, Sec. 2-16, of the 1978 Code]

§ 90-13 Program established.

There is hereby created and established within the Police Department of the Borough the civilian position and rank of police cadet and the following requirements for said position and rank are hereby established:

A. Applicants shall be between the ages of 17 and 21 years.

B. Applicants shall establish either temporary or permanent residence within the Borough during the period of service as a police cadet.

C. Applicants shall fulfill civil service requirements and, in addition, must submit to a medical, psychiatric and psychological examination and must undergo a character investigation by the Police Department.

D. Each applicant shall take and pass a civil service examination prior to appointment as a cadet; provided, however, that temporary appointments may be made pending the holding of a civil service examination, and continuance in the program will be conditioned upon the successful passage of said civil service examination.

E. Applicant shall possess a moderate degree of typing skills. In the event that the applicant has no typing ability, he must agree to attend a night course to gain a proficiency required.

F. Applicant shall have completed at least 24 semester hours, or must agree to enroll at an accredited college for a minimum of three credit hours per semester, in subjects approved by the Chief of Police. The cadet will be required to maintain satisfactory standing in these courses to remain employed as a cadet. Each cadet will be required to attend the classes on his own time and expense.

G. Cadets will be considered on probation during their entire period of service and may be dismissed at any time for unsatisfactory job performance, misconduct or disobedience of rules and regulations as well as academic deficiency or upon discontinuance of the cadet program by the Borough.

H. Cadets will be assigned to work their forty-hour week on a watch consistent with their academic program and the requirements of the Police Department.

I. Upon attaining the age of 18, the cadet will be eligible to take the appropriate civil service examination for patrolmen and, if successful, may be immediately appointed to such rank, provided that a vacancy exists.

J. Status as a cadet will be terminated upon any applicant or candidate attaining the age of 22 years or upon the failure of any cadet to successfully pass any two examinations for the position of patrolman, regardless of which event occurs first.

K. Upon appointment, cadets will be given a training course designed to prepare them for their duties as cadets and to orient them to the functions and operations of the Police Department. The cadets will be assigned to other duties, including but not limited to those listed below, and will receive further periodic in-service training and gradually increasing responsibilities during their years as a cadet. Cadets will be assigned generally on a rotating basis for periods to be specified by the Chief of Police, as follows:

(1) Records Division: typing, filing and pulling of records.

(2) Desk work, including filling in daily reports, typing, operating communications equipment, operating switchboard, making log entries.

(3) Identification work, including filing fingerprints, police records and reports and assisting in photography laboratory.

(4) Detective Bureau: assisting detectives in checking details and in crime prevention work and working with Juvenile Detective Bureau in handling juveniles.

(5) Uniformed Division: including patrolling Borough of Fort Lee with regular patrolmen in an auxiliary capacity, either on foot or in vehicles, riding with traffic officers, preparing traffic reports, mapping accidents, searching for information, checking reports for accuracy and completeness, assisting with crowd control at parades and public gatherings and directing traffic, all under supervision of regular police officer. Any such accident report prepared by such cadet must be under the supervision of a regular police officer and signed by him as the investigating officer.

(6) Miscellaneous police work as may be assigned to the Chief of Police.

L. All uniforms and equipment as approved for cadets by the Chief of Police shall be furnished by the Borough.

M. During a cadet's tenure, he shall be covered under the fringe benefits program granted to general municipal employees rather than under police personnel benefits and shall receive vacation, sick days and holidays in accordance with the schedule of the same benefits as is currently in force for civilian employees of the Borough. A cadet will be enrolled in the public employees retirement system as for other full-time civilian employees.