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Lateral Transfers
This is always a heated topic as Unions and Departments battle daily to find some common ground in this area. What is the fair way to make assignments to the various special units? Who should work narcotics? Community Police? K-9? Detectives? Dare Officer? Is there a fair way to make these assignments? How do you remove the politics?
It
is believed that the
only fair way to make these assignments is to develop tangible criteria
that can be articulated, and to use this to pick the
candidates. This way, there is little room for
dispute. All to often the assignment to these units are used
as rewards to the favored members.
So what is a fair way to make these assignments? First, these assignments should be posted throughout the Department with a deadline for the submission of both a Letter of Interest and a Resume. An officer should put his interest in writing and submit his qualifications for the position. A closing date for the submissions of applications should be included in the posting as well as a brief description of the job duties and work hours.
Second, a committee should be formed to review and grade the applications of the candidates. This committee should be comprised of both supervisors, members of the unit to be joined, and members of the patrol division. A score card should be developed wherein each applicant is graded in different areas, to include, seniority, schooling/training, experience, and statistics (arrest statistics should be factored into the decision). Candidates should submit investigation reports that they conducted of a similar nature.
All of these separate factors should warrant a score, and a total score should be arrived at. All members of the committee should submit their recommendations, arrived at through the scores, to the Chief of Police for final determination.