“The new law allows the township to begin the process of diversifying our police force immediately rather than waiting for the next civil service test which may take years and which may not produce a list of candidates that will allow us to establish this diversity,” Woodbridge Township Mayor John E. The new law enables the township more flexibility with regard to new hires and move toward more diversity in the hiring process. The law also requires that a police department may only hire a person under this exemption upon adoption of a conflict of interest and nepotism policy.Īs a result of the current constraints, the township has only been able to hire police officers from the official civil service list given to the governing body by the state which is generated approximately every three years after the State Department of Personnel holds a test to rank applicants by score. That’s where the new law, S-3220, was then needed, exempting entry-level law enforcement officers from the exam, so long as they have completed the basic course for police officers. 401 – a law that required all law enforcement agencies to establish minority recruitment and a selection program that would provide diversity, it became clear that there was a stumbling block to achieve that goal – the requirement that all candidates take, and pass, the civil service exam. Upon signing into law last year – Senate No. In Woodbridge Township, all candidates had to not only be on the list of people who took the exam, but also had to live in the township at the time of applying to take the exam, and had to maintain residence through their official hiring date at which time they could move out of Woodbridge Township. Traditionally, all individuals wanting to work in law enforcement were required to pass the civil service law enforcement examination prior to being considered for employment by a local municipality. The State of New Jersey recently passed a bill that now permits municipalities to exempt new hires for the local police department from the civil service exam.

Woodbridge township employment