The following is a statement from Mayor Lungo-Koehn:
It
has come to my attention that there is false information circulating
about the existing Civil Service List, the hiring process of police
officers, and a petition we have into the state for the option to
prioritize hiring bilingual candidates in addition to other priority
candidates, after the veterans list is exhausted.
Let
me be extremely clear: this petition does not, and will not change the
priority ranking for Medford Veterans, nor are we or would we ever seek
to bypass Veterans. Period. Any assertion otherwise is absolutely false.
It
is and always was our priority to offer available positions to Medford
Veterans first, as categorized on the State’s Civil Service List, which
we continue to do. It is also important that we recognize and continue
to adapt to the needs of our community. Currently, on a force of 96
sworn officers, only one speaks Spanish, one speaks Portuguese, and one
speaks Haitian-Creole. In a community as diverse as Medford we need
staff – especially those who interact with and directly serve our
community – to be able to effectively communicate with our residents.
Therefore, we are seeking the option to also prioritize
candidates who speak more than one language now that we have exhausted
the resident Veteran list. Similar priority hiring waivers currently
already exist, in communities across the state, for hiring based on
gender, race, etc. Our request to the state is standard practice and
will greatly improve our ability to serve this community in addition to hiring Veterans. In fact, more than one third of our current police force are Veterans or those with military service.
Here are some important facts about the Civil Service list for hiring Medford police officers:
- The City is not seeking to bypass Veterans currently on the Civil Service List. In fact, every
single veteran with Medford residency has been offered employment as a
police officer. All have been contacted, most declined. Only one
accepted. Furthermore, Mayor Lungo-Koehn took it upon
herself to personally train this Veteran at the Hormel track for the
physical fitness running test.
- The order of priority for selection – per Civil Service law - from the current Medford list is:
-
- “402A eligible”
individuals (a person who has taken the civil service exam and is the
child of an officer who has been killed in the line of duty) (1 person)
- Disabled Veterans who are Medford residents, ranked by score (2 people)
- Veterans who are Medford residents, ranked by score (3 people)
- Medford residents who are not Veterans, ranked by score (68 people)
- Disabled Veterans who are not Medford residents, ranked by score (40 people)
- Veterans who are not Medford residents, ranked by score (40 people)
- Non-Medford residents, ranked by score (570 people)
- While
there are Disabled Veterans/Veterans with non-Medford residency on the
list, in order for the City to hire them, the residency portion of the
list must be exhausted; the City is currently in the process of hiring
10 new officers, with a new list coming in September. With this new list
and the amount officers being hired, it is almost impossible that any non-residents would be eligible for hire under Civil Service rules.
Police Chief Jack Buckley has also issued this statement regarding the process:
“Our
hiring practices are dictated by Civil Service Law and the priority
order set for hiring new officers from the Civil Service List. Our
petition to also prioritize the hiring of bilingual officers is
not, in any way, designed to circumvent any existing law or policy. We
are simply asking for the ability to consider more strongly those
candidates who self-identify as bilingual in one of three languages
beyond simply utilizing their test scores and ranking from the list of
Medford residents. Veterans will continue, consistent with our
practices, to be given preference as positions become available,” said
Medford Chief of Police Jack Buckley.
The Medford hiring list can be found here.
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