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DPS to offer ‘revised’ police academy entrance test

A ‘revised’ police academy entrance test, compiled after collaboration between the Dept. of Public Safety (DPS) and the Dept. of Human Resources (DHR), will be offered soon to anyone interested in filling one of the ten remaining slots for the next police academy.

 

No details were given on how the ‘revised’ test differs from the first one that was offered twice this year, first in June and again in August.

 

Fuega Moliga, Special Assistant to the DPS Commissioner told Samoa News yesterday that DPS and DHR officials met earlier this week to discuss the test, which netted a poor passing percentage and, according to Police Commissioner William Haleck, the test had to be revamped because it was ‘compromised’.

 

The initial test that was offered during the summer months was a new test that replaced the one that had been used for over a decade. It was taken by over 300 potential police academy candidates and only ten of them passed.

 

The test is the first step in applying for the ‘police officer cadet trainee’ position that Fuega said will be re-advertised in the Samoa News before the end of the month. (The job announcement will include the dates and times the test will be offered).

 

Head of the DPS Training Division Tauese Vaaomala Sunia is working closely with DHR as far as developing and administering the test — which has disqualified more than 98% of the people who took it.

 

The new ‘revised’ test, says Fuega, will be offered to new applicants only. Those who failed the first test will not be permitted to take it again. This, he said, is so everyone can get a chance to take a test for the academy.

 

Fuega added that the ten people who passed the test already do not have to sit the new test. This was the same answer Haleck gave last month, when asked if DHR was going to invalidate the scores of the ten people who passed the first test. “As far as I know, they are good to go,” the Commissioner said.

 

The DPS started recruiting for this year’s police academy during the summer months, looking to fill a total of 20 slots.

 

The response was overwhelming, with over 500 people expressing interest in becoming law enforcement officers. With only 2% of the test takers passing however, the test became the center of numerous discussions that included claims from the Dept. of Human Resources that DPS had violated HR policies when they administered the test because DPS did not first obtain HR approval for the test.

 

DHR Director Sonny Thompson went on record to say that “employment tests or any other type of examination designed to hire, promote, or for other personnel-related issues must go through HR,” adding that his department was “not involved with the preparation or coordination of the police academy test.”

 

DPS responded by saying that DHR was involved in administering the test and the proper procedures were followed. DPS pointed to the fact that DHR representatives “looked at the test and screened the people who took it,” and allegations of DPS violating policies should have been voiced prior to the test being offered.

 

The planned police academy, the first to be offered in three years, was supposed to be in full swing last month but an official start date is yet to be announced, as DPS is short of qualified candidates — ones who can pass the entrance exam, which is the first step in the recruitment process.

 

There were two test sessions offered this year. The first batch included over 300 people but only seven (2%) passed. The next group of 39 test takers had only three who passed.

 

According to the job announcement, the salary range for the incoming trainees will run from $10,471 to $23,471.

 

In addition to the entrance test, trainees will also have to undergo a physical fitness test, a psychological evaluation, an oral interview, and pass a background check. This means those who passed the test may not necessarily pass the other requirements.

 

Haleck said last month that both he and Governor Lolo M. Moliga have been looking forward to getting the police academy off the ground because of the current shortage of manpower within DPS, “but not being able to find qualified candidates will probably push the academy start date back from August to September.” Now it’s being pushed back to October.

 

Funding for the Police Academy comes from the Dept. of Public Safety’s FY 2014 budget.

 

Efforts to obtain comments from the head of DPS’s Training Division Tauese Vaaomala Sunia were unsuccessful as of press time yesterday.