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 present part-time vacancy at the Town of Amherst with a salary range of $17.97 - $22.00 per hour.

Preference may be given to successful candidates who have been residents of the municipality in which the appointment is to be made for one month preceding the date of the certification of the eligible list and who are residents of the municipality at the time of appointment.  Non-residents may be required to become a resident of the appointing municipality if local law so states.

Examples of Duties:

A Crime Analyst provides timely and relevant information on crime patterns and trends and to assist operational and administrative personnel in planning the deployment of resources for the prevention and suppression of criminal activities; 

Performs routine crime analysis duties, such as developing regular crime and calls for service bulletins;

Conducts and presents historical analysis on both general and specific crime and calls for service information; performs tactical crime analysis, and assists with research projects;

Makes written and oral presentations, using charts and graphs, to inform police officers, detectives and commanders of emerging or existing crime series, patterns and trends, as well as suspect and victim profiles;

Conducts tactical crime analyses, identifying current crime series and hot spots; prepares tactical· action plans;

Identifies crime patterns for commonalities and offender localities for investigative purposes;

Develops and produces crime maps using geographic (GIS) applications conducts spatial analysis of crime data;

Provides accurate, timely and relevant analysis of crime ,patterns and trends that aid in the efficient deployment of department resources and increases apprehensions and the clearance of criminal cases;

Analyzes known offenders’ methods of operation (MO’s) and establishes timelines to perform suspect/crime correlation in order to provide suspect leads' and targets for surveillance or directed patrol;

Prepares numerous maps, charts, and graphs indicating criminal trends and provides analysis and explanations for these trends, as well as other correlations and indicators (e.g., possible suspects responsible for increases and decreases in specific crimes);

Collects and routes crime bulletins from surrounding law enforcement agencies; highlights relevant information or provides commentary as to the nexus and assesses offenders' risk level as it pertains to officer safety concerns;

Monitors the transfer of pawn data and routinely checks pawn databases for items stolen in the jurisdiction;

Routinely checks on the activities of known thieves for pawn transactions that might link them to stolen property within the jurisdiction and outside agencies;

Monitors social media sites to determine crime trends and to locate potential stolen items.

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 college or university with a Bachelor’s Degree in criminal justice, political science, or a closely related field; or:

B) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university with an Associate’s Degree in criminal justice, political science, or a closely related field; and two (2) years of experience* in research, data collection or analytical report preparation; or:

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

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
1) Three (3) years of full-time paid law enforcement experience; and

2) Satisfactory completion of a background investigation at time of appointment ; and

3) Possession and maintenance of a valid New York State Driver’s License at time of appointment and throughout duration of employment; and

4) Satisfactory completion of the Crime Analyst Certification Level l Exam approved by the NYS Municipal Police Training Council before completion of the probationary period; and

5) United States Citizenship at time of application; and

6) Resident of Erie County at time of application for exam, at time of appointment and residence maintained during employment.

Notes:

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

2. 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.

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 "How to take a written test" helpful in preparing for this test. This publication is available on line at: https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm

Subjects of Examination:

SUBJECTS OF EXAMINATION: A written test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

1. Basic statistical concepts

These questions test for knowledge of the analytical methods used to reduce and describe large sets of numerical data. The questions cover such areas as the organization and presentation of data, statistical terminology, central tendency, variability, the normal curve, and correlation.

You will not be required to do any substantial manipulation of data.

2. Evaluating conclusions in light of known facts

These questions will consist of a set of facts and a conclusion. You must decide if the conclusion is proved by the facts, disproved by the facts or if the facts are not sufficient to prove or disprove the conclusion. The questions will not be specific to 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 tabular material

These questions test your ability to understand, analyze, and use the internal logic of data presented in tabular form. You may be asked to perform tasks such as completing tables, drawing conclusions from them, analyzing data trends or interrelationships, and revising or combining data sets. The concepts of rate, ratio, and proportion are tested. Mathematical operations are simple, and computational speed is not a major factor in the test. You should bring with you a hand-held battery- or solar-powered calculator for use on this test. You will not be permitted to use the calculator function of your cell phone.

5. 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:  It is recommended that candidates use a quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculator.  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.