Residence Requirements:

RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS:  CANDIDATES MUST HAVE BEEN LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE WRITTEN TEST AND MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY AT THE TIME OF APPOINTMENT. There is one anticipated vacancy at the Erie County Department of Probation.

Examples of Duties:

An Investigative Aide is responsible for securing the personal and possible criminal histories of adults charged with legal violations and being held in custody awaiting trial, the corroboration and evaluation of this information to determine both the feasibility and desirability of their release with or without bail pending trial, and participating in preparing recommendations to be presented to the presiding trial judges concerning pre-trail release;

Interviews persons under detention, primarily at Buffalo Police Headquarters and the Erie County Holding Center;

Performs confidential investigations to secure information concerning these individuals' personal and economic circumstances and past criminal histories (if any);

Verifies information supplied by interviewees and gathered from other sources, then participates in making determination as to whether individuals are likely to benefit from pre-trial release;

May make court appearances to present recommendations to presiding judges concerning pre-trail release on the detainees' own recognizance or on bail, as set by the judges.

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Candidates must meet one of the following requirements on or before the date of the written test: 

A) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four year college or university with a Bachelor's degree and one (1) year of experience in investigations work with a police department, or in performing investigative work, legal or investigative research, or survey and program implementation work in the personnel, labor relations, or governmental fields* (see NOTE 1); or:

B) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered two (2) year college with an Associate's degree, and three (3) years of experience  as a member of a law enforcement agency, or in performing investigative work, legal or investigative research, or survey and program implementation work in the personnel, labor relations, or governmental fields; or:

C) Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and five years of experience as a member of a law enforcement agency, or in performing investigative work, legal or investigative research, or in survey and implementation work in personnel, labor relations, or governmental fields; or:

D) An equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A), (B), and (C)

Notes:

NOTES 1.  *Satisfactory completion of one (1) full year of law school may be substituted for the required one (1) year of experience as described in (A).  2. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting the full-time experience requirements. 3. Your degree and/or college credit must have been awarded by a regionally accredited college or university or one recognized by the New York State Education Department as following acceptable educational practices. A grade of "D" or better is necessary for a course to be credited as successfully completed. If your degree and/or college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside of the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. You can write to this Department for a list of acceptable companies providing this service; you must pay the required evaluation fee.

Notice to Candidates: Transcripts will now be accepted by the Department of Personnel ONLY at time of application.
All subsequent transcripts must be submitted at time of interview.

A Guide for the Written Test for Investigators is available at the New York State website:www.cs.ny.gov/testing/localtestguides.cfm . Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request copy of the test guide from the municipal civil service office conducting this examination using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement.

Subjects of Examination:

Subjects of examination: A written test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

1. Evaluating information and evidence

These questions test for the ability to evaluate and draw conclusions from information and evidence. Each question consists of a set of facts and a conclusion based on the facts. The candidate must decide if the conclusion is warranted by the facts.

2. Investigative techniques

These questions test for knowledge of the fundamental concepts in the area of field investigation. The questions will cover such areas as: obtaining the cooperation of individuals involved in an investigation, preparing for the investigation and/or interview, investigative principles, interviewing principles and practices, behavior and attitudes of the investigator and others, gathering of data and evidence, and presenting the results of an investigation.

Many of the questions are situational in nature and attempt to measure the candidate's ability to apply basic investigative techniques. The questions are generic rather than dealing with investigations in a particular field.

3. Preparing written material

These questions test for the ability to present information clearly and accurately, and to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensibly. For some questions, you will be given information in two or three sentences followed by four restatements of the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given paragraphs with their sentences out of order. You must then choose, from four suggestions, the best order for the sentences.

4. Understanding and interpreting written material

These questions test for the ability to understand and interpret written material. You will be presented with brief reading passages and will be asked questions about the passages. You should base your answers to the questions only on what is presented in the passages and not on what you may happen to know about the topic.

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES:  Unless otherwise noted, candidates are permitted to use quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculators.  Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", “Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited.  You may not bring books or other reference materials.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $20.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.