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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEstablishing a Merit System of Promotions for the Bureau of PoliceORDINANCE No. 5820 -75 Passed by the Common Council of the City of South Bend, 19 75 Clerk IRENE K. GAMMON of Common Council Presented by me to the Mayor of the City of South Bend, APRIL 8, X975 IRENE K. GAMMON Approved and signed by Clerk ORDINANCE NO.SSao -7S AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A MERIT SYSTEM OF PROMOTIONS FOR THE BUREAU OF POLICE OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND BE IT ORDAINED by the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana: SECTION I. (a) Within 45 days after this ordinance becomes effective, a Merit Board shall be appointed as herein provided. The Merit Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board, shall consist of five members. (b) The members of the Board shall consist of two members appointed by the Mayor, one member appointed by a majority vote of the Common Council, and two members elected by the active membership of the Bureau of Police. (c) The Mayor shall appoint one member for a term of one year and one mem- ber for a term of three years. All succeeding appointments by the Mayor shall be for a full term of four years. (d) The Common Council shall appoint one member for a term of two years. All succeeding appointments by the Common Council shall be for a full term of four years. (e) The active membership of the Bureau of Police shall elect one member for a term of two years and one member for a term of four years. All succeed- ing elections shall be held for a full term of four years. (f) All members appointed to the Merit Board shall be residents of the City of South Bend. (g) The total membership of the Board shall elect from their membership a president and vice president. SECTION II. (a) The selection of the two members as representatives of the Bureau of Police is to be made by the active membership of the Bureau of Police from a printed ballot of persons in an election specifically called for that purpose by the Bureau of Police. (b) At least thirty days notice of such election shall be given to all active members of the Bureau of Police by posting the notice of such election in at least five prominent places in the Central Police Station. The notice shall designate the time, place and purpose of the election. Within fifteen days following the posting of this notice, any active member of the Bureau of Police may file a nomination of a candidate to serve on the Merit Board. An active member of the Bureau of Police may not be nominated. Nominations shall be substantially in the following form: The undersigned hereby nominate as a candidate for the South Bend Merit Board. Dated this day of , 19 (Signature of active member of the Bureau of Police making the nomination.) (Signature of active member of the Bureau of Police seconding the nomination.) I accept the above nomination and agree that my name be placed on the ballot for election to the Merit Board as a representative of the Bureau of Police. Dated this day of (Signature of Candidate) 19_ Such declaration of candidacy must be filed with the City Clerk within the specified fifteen days following the posting of a notice of the election after which time nominations will be considered closed. Within five days there- after, the Bureau of Police shall cause to be printed a ballot listing the names of all persons properly nominated and duly qualified, which ballot shall be posted at least ten days prior to the specified date of the election in the five locations previously prescribed as provided in this chapter and section. (c) Voting shall be done by secret ballot in the manner and form prescribed by the Bureau of Police, provided that the polling place shall be in a conven- ient location within the Central Police Station and shall be open for the pur- pose of casting ballots for a period of 12 hours beginning at 12 :00 Noon on the specified date. No one shall be entitled to be present at the polling site or to exercise the right to vote unless he is an active member of the Bureau of Police. Active members who are unable to vote in person may vote by written proxy; provided, that no active member shall be entitled to submit the proxy of more than one absent member. (d) In the event of a tie vote, the run off election shall be held between those candidates receiving an equal number of votes within seven days. In the event of two vacancies, the two candidates receiving the most votes shall be elected. The Bureau of Police shall publish the results of the election within 48 hours of the date of the election and shall submit the results in writing to the Mayor, copies of which shall be posted in the five locations within the Central Police Station as previously prescribed. SECTION III. A person shall be ineligible to serve as a member of the Merit Board if he receives any remuneration for services as an employee or elected official of the Civil City of South Bend. A member appointed to said Merit Board shall take and subscribe to an oath, administered by the Clerk, that he will con- scientiously and faithfully discharge the duties of his office, which oath shall be filed with the office of the City Clerk. A member of said board shall receive a per diem compensation for each day of actual service in the amount to be fixed by the board: Provided, however, that the total compensation received by any member shall not exceed Six Hundred Dollars per year. -2- SECTION IV. When a vacancy occurs among any of the Board members, for any cause, this vacancy shall be filled for the duration of the unexpired term in the same manner as the appointment or election previously made of the original Board member. The Board may remove any member at any time upon a conviction of any criminal offense, malfeasance, non- feasance, misconduct which would effect ability to perform duties, or any other inability to serve. Such removal requires a unanimous vote of all Board members exclusive of the member charged or accused. SECTION V. The Merit Board shall establish regulations for the government of the Board and included irf said regulations shall be the time and place for holding of regular meetings and for holding special meetings throughout the year as may be deemed necessary for it to transact the business of the Board. A lawful transaction of the business of the Board requires a majority of its members to be present. At its first meeting each year, the Board shall select from its members, a president and vice - president. The secretary of the Board shall be the Clerk of the Board of Public Safety. The Board shall make and keep a permanent record of its proceedings. SECTION VI. The Merit Board shall be authorized and directed to prepare, adopt, promulgate, supervise and enforce regulations as follows: (a) To govern promotions and demotions of members of the Bureau of Police. Such regulations shall provide that the following four factors, along with their respective percentages of rating shall be the basic considerations of rating a member of the Bureau of Police for the purpose of promotion: 1. The Grade received by a member on a written, competitive examination pertaining to police knowledge. - 20 %. 2. The Score received in situational testing. - 20 %. 3. The past performance record of a member of the Bureau of Police based upon a formalized system of evaluation during the previous two years of service as a member of said Bureau of Police. - 40 %. The formalized evlauation shall be conducted by the immediate superior officer whose evaluation shall carry 40% weight of the total and three officers of equal or lesser rank each of whose evaluation shall carry 20% weight of the total evaluation. 4. The score received from an oral interview before the Merit Board. - 20 %. The oral interview shall be held after completion of the other testing. The Merit Board shall not have access to the scores of other testing at or before the oral interview. The name or any means of identifcation of any member taking the competitive and situational examinations under the provisions of this Chapter shall be withheld and made unavailable to the person and persons who grade such examinations and all written competitive examinations shall be tma't d�,add filed as confidential, provided; however, that said examination papers shall be made a part of the permanent file of the individual officer taking these examinations and they shall be maintained under the supervision of the Chief of Police. The individual officer and the members of the Board shall have access to this file to examine same at any time., subject to restrictions herein. -3- The Merit Board shall establish the method of selection of the best qualified officer based upon the examination, performance rating, and oral interviews. In the event of a vacancy, officers holding an equivalent rank and pre- requisite qualifications may be considered for lateral assignment by the Chief of Police prior to the commission's promotional deliberation of the established list. Any member qualified for promotion but refusing same shall maintain his position on the eligibility list, such refusal being considered a refusal for a specific assignment and not a refusal of promotional consideration. The Merit Board shall cause notice to each member of the Bureau, in writing, of the grade which each member received on the examination. Such regulation shall further provide that if any member is aggrieved with the grade received on the written competitive and situational examination, he shall have a right to appeal in writing to the Board for review of the grade within ten days after the notice of the grade has been sent to him and the Board, after reviewing the grade and the examination papers shall have the authority to affirm the grade or to increase the grade according to the findings of the review. The Board shall prepare a written report on each officer reviewed denoting reasons for action and areas in which the officer is proficient and deficient. (b) It shall be the duty of the Board to provide training for all personnel in the philosophy and technique of objective performance evaluation and to prescribe the manner of determining a rating for the past performance. Such regulations shall contain a provision requiring that each performance rating shall be made every six months for officers holding a permanent rank and every three months for officers holding a probationary rank, such ranks being described in Section VII of this act for each member of the Bureau of Police by their immediate superior officer and by the appropriate number of peer group raters so situated by assignment and experience so as to have an intimate knowledge of the skills and character of the officer being rated, as designated by the Board, which rating shall be submitted to the Chief of Police and kept on file in his office or in the Bureau of Police under his supervision. The Merit Board shall cause notice to each member of the Bureau, in writing, of the rating which such member receives. Such regulation shall further pro- vide that if any member is aggrieved with the performance rating given him by any rater, he shall have the right to appeal to the Board for a review of the rating within ten days after the notice of the rating has been sent to him, and the Board, after reviewing the rating, shall have the authority to affirm the rating or to increase the rating according to the finding of the review. SECTION VII. All promotions provided for herein shall be probationary for the first year. At the end of such year, the immediate superior officer shall review the performance ratings of the probationary officer and recommend to the Commission whether the promotion shall be made permanent or whether the promotion shall be revoked. The Board shall prepare an appropriate rating chart for the superior officer's use in making his report. The Board shall review the report and make its determina- tion as to the disposition to be made. The probationary officer may appear before the Board and be heard on any matter detrimental to him in the superior officer's report by filing a written appeal to the Board within ten days of the recommendation being filed. He shall have the right to be represented by counsel. All actions of the Board are final. In the event the promotion is finally revoked, the officer shall not be returned to a rank lower than he held prior to the time of the probationary promotion. The Board shall prepare and publish appeal procedures to be followed for appeals to the Board from the report of the superior officer as provided in I.C. 18- 1 -11 -3 and I.C. 18- 1 -4 -2. SECTION VIII. Every officer holding permanent rank will be subject to a performance rating every six (6) months as provided in Section VI (b) of this Act. Should any officer holding permanent rank receive a performance rating less than satisfactory for a six (6) month period, the Board shall be notified in writing of such rating by the Chief of Police; providing further that the officer receiving such unsatis- factory rating shall have the right to appeal to the Board for a review of the rating within ten (10) days after the notice of the rating has been sent to him as provided in Section VI of this Act; and the Board, after reviewing the rating, shall have the authority to affirm the rating or to increase the same. Should the rating be affirmed, the rated officer shall be removed from the permanent status and given temporary status in the rank and position for which he received an unsatisfactory rating. Such action shall be considered as probationary from the effective date of change of status; provided further, that such temporary status shall not exceed six (6) months during which two (2) performance ratings shall be made as provided in Section VI (b) of this Act. At the end of six (6) months, the immediate superior officer shall review the performance ratings of the probationary officer and recommend to the Chief of Police whether the promotion shall be reinstated as permanent or whether the rank shall be revoked. The chief shall forward said recommendation to the Board to review the report and shall make its determination as to the disposition to be made. The proba- tionary officer may appear before the Board and be heard on any matter detrimental to him in the superior officer's report by filing a written appeal to the Board within ten days of the recommendation being filed. He shall have the right to be represented by counsel. In the event the promotion is finally revoked the officer shall not be returned to a rank more than one grade below that held prior to the time of his promo- tion. The Board shall prepare and publish appeal procedures to be followed for appeals to the Board from the report of the superior officer. SECTION IX. Initially, upon the effective date of this Act, the promotion to any vacant rank, except that of Chief of Police and Divisional Chiefs of Police, shall be open to any member of the department who has passed the competitive ex- amination provided, that any such member shall have had three (3) years of service, in the Bureau at the time of promotion to the rank of corporal; four (4) years of service at the time of promotion to the rank of sergeant; five (5) years of service at the time of promotion to the rank of lieutenant; six (6) years of service at the time of promotion to the rank of captain. Provided further: that all active members of the Bureau hold- ing rank shall be considered as holding temporary rank until the implementation of this Act. Such members shall be exempt from promotional consideration unless they have qualified for higher rank by the examination process as provided in this Act. Members holding temporary rank shall be subject to the same provisions of performance evaluation as required for those holding probationary rank and shall further be subject to the same procedure of probation and possible revocation of rank should they receive two (2) consecutive ratings of unsatisfactory as provided in Section VIII of this Act. In the event of revocation and demotion, they shall not be demoted lower than the rank for which they have qualified by the promotional process of this Act. SECTION X. When all positions have been filled according to the implementa- tion of this Act, all promotions to any rank shall be from the eligibility list of officers holding permanent status in the immediate lower rank provided that the per- son to be promoted shall have qualified in time of service required by this Act; pro- vided, further that no acting rank shall exceed one hundred and twenty (120) days; except where an acting rank is created to fill a vacancy because of the illness, injury, or military leave of an officer who holds permanent rank. In any event any acting rank shall be filled from the existing eligibility list for such rank to be filled. -5- Appointment to the rank of Chief of Police shall be made as presently provided for by law of any member of the Bureau of Police with at least seven (7) years of service. Appointment to the rank of Divisional Chief shall be made as presently provided for by law of any member of the police department having obtained the rank of a captain. Such regulations shall be printed and copies of said regulations shall be furnished to each member of said Bureau of Police. Any amendments to these regulations shall be made at least thirty (30)days prior to any promotion or demotion, and said amend- ments to these regulations shall be printed and furnished to all members of said Bureau of Police. SECTION XI. There shall be a list of specific study material published and posted by the Board and written competitive and situational examinations administered on this specific material for the purpose of filling any existing vacancies in the ranks that may occur from time to time. Any member of said Bureau of Police shall have the right to acquire said material and shall prepare himself in any manner available to him, provided, however, that only those members who are qualified in rank and length of service as provided by this Act shall be given the written final examinations covering topics specified in the announced material and an eligibility list developed according to the grade received. SECTION XII. The Board shall have the power and authority to promote and demote any member of the Bureau of Police qualified in accordance with the promo- tional procedure as prescribed by the Board in its rules and regulations, but the Board of Public Safety of such city shall have the sole power of appointing as Chief of Police any member of the Bureau who has completed seven (7) years of active service and Divisional Chiefs of Police any member of the Bureau of Police who has attained the rank of Captain. Provided, further, the Board of Public Safety of such city shall have the sole power of removing such chief of police and divisional chiefs without cause and without provision of appeal; provided, that the removal of any member of the Bureau of Police as Chief of Police and Divisional Chiefs shall be deemed as removal from rank only, and not from the Bureau of Police; provided, further that upon expiration of the term of any Chief of Police such person shall be appointed by the Board to the permanent rank which he held at the time of his appointment as chief or divisional chief of the Bureau. The positions of chief and divisional chief shall be considered appointed positions to serve at the discretion of the Mayor. Officers appointed to either of these positions shall upon expiration, resignation, or removal, be appointed to the permanet rank held prior to their appointment as chief or divisional chief; provided further, that the chief of police, during his tenure in office, shall be eligible to compete for and qualify on promotional eligibility lists as provided by this Act. SECTION XIII. The Board of Public Safety shall have the sole power of exacting fines, punishment, and dismissal of any member of the Bureau of Police found guilty of being in violation of the rules and regulations of the Bureau of Police in accordance with state laws governing cities of the second class and the process of appeal shall be in accordance with existing state laws. The Board of Public Safety may delegate to the Chief of Police in writing the authority to suspend a police officer without pay for periods up to and including ten (10) days and also may author- ize the Chief of Police to relieve an officer of duty with pay for the same period of time. SECTION XIV. Any member of the Bureau of Police who personally or through any other person solicits any member of the Board to influence or favor his promotion shall be thereby rendered ineligible for promotional consideration until the next regular promotional school. SECTION XV. Upon arriving at the age of sixty (60) it shall be mandatory for a member of the Bureau of Police to retire from said department, providing, however, that any member of the Bureau of Police that is of the age of sixty (60) or over at the time of the taking effect of this chapter shall be permitted to serve to the end of the calendar year. Exceptions to this mandatory retirement age can be made by the Board in accordance with its normal rules and regulations when an individual requests such an exception in writing to the Board. However, such approval can be made only for a period of one (1) year. Additional periods of one (1) year may be granted in the same manner. However, no extension should be approved once the individual reaches the age of 65. SECTION XVI. All persons who are members of the Bureau of Police at the time of the effective date of this Act will hold their respective ranks subject to the system in force at the time of the passage of this Act. The Board shall, within a reasonable time, hold open competition as described in examinations for all members of the Bureau of Police. Such examinations shall be concluded for the rank of Corporal on or before March 31, 1976; for the rank of sergeant, on or before the 30th day of June, 1976; for the rank of lieutenant, on or before the 30th day of September, 1976; and for the rank of captain, on or before the 31st day of December, 1976. The merit system shall then be implemented as to the entire police force on January 1, 1977. SECTION XVII. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect on January 1, 1976, after passage by the Common Council and approval by the Mayor. lsf READING - 02 y - 7 S PUBLIC HEARING S( _ .� _ ,2 S 2nd READING y _ 12 - '7 5- NOT APPROVED REFERRED PASSED U- ? - % a. ' -7- Me er of the Common Counc' FILED IN CLEWS OFFICE MAR 10 1975 Irene Gammon CM ARK° mum Wo Tommittrr Irport go the tQomman 01ounril of thr city of #ouch Tlead: Your Committee of the Whole to whom was referred AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A MERIT SYSTEM OF PROMOTIONS FOR THE BUREAU OF POLICE OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND. RespeaNly report that they have examined the matter and that in their opinion the Ordinance should be recommended favorably to the Common Council. (Note: In the Council portion of the meeting, two minor typographical errors were corrected, and the last two sentences of Section XII were stricken.) Odell Newburn Chairman PRE[ PgE9i PVBLI9 NINE CO.