Lieutenant-Officer

Modified: January 9, 2020 12:00pm

COUNTY OF ERIE - DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL
invites applications for the position of:

Lieutenant-Officer

#75-683 - Promotional (for current employees only)

Salary: $59,588 - $76,798 Annually
Opening Date: January 9, 2020
Closing Date: February 5, 2020
Application fee: $30.00

Residence Requirements:

THIS EXAMINATION IS OPEN TO ALL QUALIFIED EMPLOYEES OF THE ERIE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE. At present there is one anticipated vacancy in the Erie County Sheriff's Office-Jail Management Division.   The duration of all promotional eligible lists is four years from date of establishment unless otherwise indicated.

Examples of Duties:

Lieutenant-Officer  is a first-line command title which involves responsibility for Supervising a large number of Deputy Sheriff-Officers and Sergeant-Officers assigned to one or more of the following functional areas, i.e., providing custodial care and transport for inmates of a Holding Center; providing security for court personnel, jurors, prisoners, witnesses, and the public in courtrooms and related facilities, and performing other court-related duties; or in supervising the security of other designated public offices and buildings; 

Holding Center:

Supervises the receiving, searching, assignment, care and transfer or release of persons under confinement;

Supervises all personnel on shift in an assigned area of the Holding Center who provide for the custody, care and well-being of inmates; this includes providing for feeding, for medical treatment or transfer to the County Medical Center when other than routine medical care is required, for attendance at church services, for enforcement of personal hygiene standards and for recreational activity under supervision;

Receives daily census and head count reports;

Arranges for the transfer of inmates to other correctional and penal institutions;

Confers with local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies, the District Attorney's office, the courts and parole departments.

Court Division:

Assigns, trains and supervises Sergeant-Officers and Deputy Sheriff-Officers who provide security and decorum in Buffalo City and Erie County Civil and Criminal Courts, Surrogate's, Erie County Family and Erie County Supreme

Courtrooms and facilities, as well as, other designated public offices and buildings;

Assigns and supervises deputies in transporting prisoners to and from the courts and related facilities and in guarding material witnesses and jurors during adjournments and recesses;

When the courts are not in session, assigns deputies to the Jail Management Division, and/or related facilities of the Eighth Judicial District as appropriate and supervises their activities while they are so assigned.

Duties Common To Both Functional Areas:

Maintains staffing for all work stations or units; prepares schedules, maintains time sheets and attendance records, approves or disapproves requests for time - off, i.e., vacation, personal leave, sick leave, etc.;

Performs periodic inspections of personnel, property and equipment assigned to the function for conformance to established standards;

Receives and/or reviews oral and written reports and initiates action appropriate to the circumstances;

Prepares detailed periodic and special reports concerning division activities;

Supervisors are responsible for the general maintenance and cleanliness of the area or facility where assigned to;

Assist in conducting new employee interviews;

Conduct regular evaluations of all sworn and non-sworn subordinate employees;

Conduct investigations into Policy and Procedure Violations by subordinate employees and impose progressive discipline as appropriate.


Qualifications:

QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE FOR TAKING THE TEST:  Candidates must be permanently employed in the competitive class and must be serving and have served continuously on a permanent or contingent permanent basis in the competitive class for 12 months as a Sergeant Officer plus one of the following:

  1. Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four year college or university with a Bachelor's degree in Police Science, Public Administration, Business Administration or closely allied field, plus one year of which must have been in a supervisory* capacity; or:
  2. Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and six years of experience in police or penal institution work, one year of which must have been in a supervisory* capacity; or:
  3. An equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A) and (B).

Notes:

1.  No substitution for the required supervisory experience is permitted.  

2. *Supervision – Responsible direction and control of subordinate employees.  This involves the assignment of work, approval of work, training, evaluation and discipline of employees.  The supervisory aspects must be an integral part of the job, not incidental or occasional.  

3. A Master's degree in Criminal Justice, in Administration, or in a directly related field may be substituted for one year of other, non-supervisory experience.  

4. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements.  

5. 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 theUnited 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.

Examination date:

March 14, 2020

Applications Must Be Postmarked or Hand Delivered By:

February 5, 2020

The New York State Department of Civil Service has not prepared a test guide for this examination. However, candidates may find information in the publication 'General Guide to Written Tests' helpful in preparing for this test. This publication is available on line at:https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm.

Subjects of Examination:

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

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.

New York State minimum standards for correctional facilities
These questions test knowledge of the Minimum Standards for state, county, and local correctional facilities that are promulgated by the New York State Commission of Correction in areas such as the admission/discharge, care, custody, movement, correctional treatment, security, supervision, and discipline of all persons confined in these systems.

COORDINATING APPROPRIATE RESPONSES TO EMERGENCIES, DISTURBANCES AND OTHER UNUSUAL SITUATIONS
These questions test for knowledge in such areas as: anticipating possible correctional emergency situations, responding to situations promptly and allocating staff where needed; notifying supervisors of situations when appropriate; acting within rules to alleviate problems as quickly as possible with minimum use of force; investigating the causes of incidents; submitting reports on incidents.

SUPERVISING INMATE CORRECTIONAL PROGRAMS, SERVICES, VISITATION AREAS AND CORRECTIONAL STAFF
These questions test for knowledge in such areas as: coordinating programs with civilian staff; ensuring that all employees relate well to visitors and guests and answer their questions in accordance with facility rules; organizing and supervising special programs involving outside groups (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc.) and ensuring full cooperation from employees. The questions may also deal with such areas as: understanding new concepts and developments in the field of Corrections, and evaluating employees' capabilities and limitations on the job.

Basic skills training
These questions test for the knowledge and abilities required to train individuals, often on a one-to-one basis, who need to acquire basic information and learn to perform simple tasks. They address topics such as planning activities to promote learning, presenting information, providing guidance, and evaluating learning. These questions cover the most basic level of training.

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.

INFORMATION FOR PROMOTION CANDIDATES 

Unless otherwise indicated, the eligible list resulting from this examination will have a duration of four years and will not supersede existing promotional lists, if any.

RATINGS REQUIRED:  Test is rated on a scale of 100 with a passing mark at 70.  Test instructions may further divide the tests into parts and set minimum standards for each part.

Points will be added to scores of candidates who achieve a passing mark as follows: Seniority:  For each year of service in the classified service:

Less than 1 year……………………..................…0 points

1 year up to 6 years…………….…........................1 point

Over 6 years up to 11 years.....………......….........2 points

Over 11 years up to 16 years….…........….........…3 points

Over 16 years up to 21 years………..................…4 points

Over 21 years………………………..................…5 points

VETERANS:  Disabled and non-disabled veterans as defined in Section 85, New York State Civil Service Law, will have 5 and 2.5 points, respectively added to their earned scores if successful in the PROMOTIONAL examination.  You must claim these credits when you file application but you have an option to waive them any time prior to appointment.  If you have already used these credits for a permanent position in NYS, you may not claim them again.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $30.00 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.