Police Civil Service Commission Essay, Research Paper

At the Police Civil Service Commission there were three commissioners, along with the police chief, lieutenants and other officials. It is normally about 11 people in total, but this one was a little different with about 10-12 students and a reporter for the Bakersfield Californian. The three commissioners, Steve Anderson, Ken Vetter and William Perry are each elected to a three year term by the city council. During there term the will each participate as head-commissioner for one year.

The meeting is started by the head-commissioner calling it to order and he states the time as well. Then roll is called by each member saying his or her name and title. Then the approval for the minutes of the last meeting is presented. After that, the head-commissioner opens the floor up to any public statements. At recent meetings, there hasn?t been much public attendance, so not that much is said during that time.

The next item on the agenda is the new business. First, any special orders are taken care of, such as appointments, promotions, retirements, etc. Next, all the new items are taken care of. At this particular meeting, the first was specifications for the new crime analyst job. Mrs. Valenzuela of Human Resources gave the commissioners the specs on the new job for review. After looking over it, one of the commissioners motioned for it and another seconded it. That is pretty much the procedure for all items put in front of the commissioners, in order for it to go through, it must be motioned and seconded.

During the meeting, a certification of Police Detective/Lieutenant Eligibility List is presented to the commissioners for review. Once the list, of usually 10 or so people, is approved, the police chief is able to select whom he wants for the job out of the top three candidates. But this can only be done if the commissioners approve the list.

At this particular meeting, there were no conflicts because everything put in front of the commissioners had passed. They had joked that not every meeting goes as smoothly as that one did, and sometimes there are disagreements or difference of opinion and some item will not pass.

After the new business is taken care of, the commissioner discusses whatever he feels needs to be discussed. At the meeting I attended it was basically just reviewing the process and the meeting itself for us students present. Also, at that time, I don?t understand why it fit in at that time, but, the police chief had asked the commissioners for their attendance at a promotion ceremony for three officers. Then, after that was taken care of, the meeting is adjourned with the time being stated again.

Even though conflict didn?t arise at this meeting, I can see where it can with the items being discussed. The new job of crime analyst can bring controversy because it wasn?t available until just recently and some could argue it is not needed. So even though it is controversial now, later it can bring some difference of opinion to some people who disagree with it. But, by then it won?t really matter because the commissioners have already approved it.

Another frequent thing proposed at the meetings are Nepotism waivers. The way these work is if a family member such as a brother or father work for the department, a waiver must be put through and approved by the commissioners before the people are able to work. This goes for husbands and wives and even just boyfriends and girlfriends.

The reason that these waivers must be passed is so that conflict doesn?t rise between the people in question.

All in all, I personally found the meeting somewhat interesting. I didn?t think that the topics were all that appealing. I just thought that the way everything was run in a quick, to-the-point manner was efficient.