Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Police Hiring topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council to consider lowering police written-exam cutoff, revising agility standards
Summary
City leadership and the Civil Service Commission proposed lowering the police officer written-exam passing score from 80% to 75% and modifying some physical-agility test items; the resolution was introduced for consideration at the next meeting.
City leadership and the Police Civil Service Commission recommended lowering the written-exam passing score for police officer candidates from 80% to 75% and revising elements of the physical agility test to align with other municipalities and broaden the applicant pool.
Mayor (unnamed) told the council the change would align the city with neighboring jurisdictions including Reading, Lancaster, Harrisburg and York, which use a 75% threshold. He said analysis of the department's testing over five years showed the department administered the written selection test to 93 applicants; 17 candidates (about 18%) scored between 75% and 80% and averaged 76% on the written test. "A score of 75% corresponds to 57 correct answers," the mayor said while describing the 75/80 difference on a 75-question test.
The proposal would also remove specific outdated agility items (the transcript cites a "trigger pull" and a window/jump requirement) and adopt gender- and age-adjusted Cooper standards for timed runs so standards are tailored by sex and age. City staff said Act 120-certified applicants who already passed academy standards would still be required to meet any state certification standards; the local changes would affect additional, city-level physical tasks.
Police Captain (unnamed) told the council the written test and physical agility are early-stage screening tools; candidates who pass both move on to interviews, background checks, polygraph, medical and drug testing. The captain said the department typically administers agility tests and written tests on the same day during weekend testing events. Council members asked about enforcement, candidate quality and whether the change would materially increase hires; staff said they lacked precise hire-to-score conversion data at the meeting but reported they had lost 17 candidates who scored below the 80% cutoff.
Council Member Sean Maguire volunteered to "take" the resolution as the sponsoring council member; the proposal remains scheduled for formal consideration at the next council meeting. No final vote was recorded during the session.
If approved, the change would take effect under the Police Civil Service Commission rules and the city would apply the revised written and local agility standards in future recruitment cycles.
