WVCPD Update - August 26, 2009

"Dear James,

Thank you for the time and consideration you gave us while testing with our organization. You are currently placed number 45 on the applicable Police Officer hiring roster. The Human Resource Office will contact you when your name has been reached on the hiring roster for possible hire.

Again, we thank you for your interest and wish you continued success in your job search."

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James will still turn in his background packet tomorrow to complete the application process. The Human Resource Manager says they are only hiring 9 officers.

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We're so grateful that we both have steady jobs and will continue to pray for and work toward some kind of career opportunity for James.

WVCPD update - August 5, 2009

James had his interview with the West Valley City Police Department today. He says it went really well until the very last question. They asked what additional skills or qualifications he might have to contribute to the department. He thought he stumbled over his answer a bit, and can't remember what he said.


We practiced generic interview questions for a few days leading up to the interview. I know he was serious about the process, but here are some of my favorite Q&A:

Jessi: "Why do you want to work in law enforcement?"

James: "Chicks love men in uniform!"

Jessi: "What have you been doing to prepare for a career in law enforcement?"

James: "Watching NCIS, Law & Order, I just looooove COPS and Homeland Security..."

At the end of the interview, he received a Personal History Statement to fill out. "An extensive background investigation will be conducted in your personal history prior to any hiring. Your background will be submitted to a Hiring Review Board." And if selected by the Hiring Review Board, would then need to take another physical agility test, a polygraph examination, a medical examination, a drug screening test, and other tests required by the agency. There are five pages in the document (which is only 30 pages long) which require a notarized signature. He has until the end of August to complete this history - which includes a 10-year employment & residential history, a copy of his high school diploma, transcripts from college, birth certificate, marriage license & Tax Information Authorization and a copy of his pilot's license.

Luckily, we've been through this already with the AK Troopers, so we don't have to scramble for copies of documents or try to remember what apartment number James lived in 7 years ago or who his roommates have been. We've already compiled all this stuff!

WVCPD update - July 23, 2009

James received a letter from West Valley City Human Resources today:

"Dear James,

Congratulations on passing the West Valley City phyisical agility exam. We would like to invite you to the next portion of the process which will be an oral interview. Based on your results from the oral interview, you will be ranked on a hiring roster for possible future hire...

...You have been scheduled for an oral inteview on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 12:20 p.m.. The interviews will be held at the West Valley City Police Sub Station located at 5315 West 3100 South. Those failing to arrive by the scheduled interview time may be disqualified from the process.

Please feel free to email... Human Resource Manager - Public Safety."

HOORAY! An interview! We're so thrilled to get this far. We'll worry about the 'hiring roster for possible future hire' part later.

The Speed Goat / PT for WVCPD - July 18, 2009

The Speed Goat - 50K race
Speed Goat Volunteers

Karl Meltzer, who is a backcountry.com athlete, sent a request for volunteers for his 50K race through James' work email. So James signed us up! The race is a 31-mile trail run up and down the mountains around Snow Basin Ski Resort. We enjoyed a BBQ on Wednesday night at Karl's house to get oriented to times and places and faces.

Then today we wandered up the canyon to help load & unload the tram and to help at the Hidden Peak aid station.

James directed runner traffic w/some halloween 'boo'.

I helped fill water bottles and slice oranges and bananas, etc.

The view from Hidden Peak.

A mountain bluebird? This digital camera (thank you Kurt & Carlee) has some serious zoom!

It was a beautiful day with a light breeze, no mosquitoes at the top. We lost track of the runners fairly quickly after they passed through the aid station, but we got to see them run the switch backs up the valley on their way to the tunnel, out of the tunnel, and down the road on the other side. We had to leave well before the race was over (6:30 am start, the last runners finished almost 13 hours later at around 7:30 at night). We rode the gondola back down at 11:30 and ate lunch in the car. James can spit cherry pits pretty far!

Physical Testing for West Valley City Police Department

At the end of May, WVCPD posted an opening for police officers (25 openings) with an application deadline of June 30th. Part of the application was a passing NPOST (National Police Office Standard Test) score. James went to Salt Lake Community College on two different days in June to take the test. A passing score is at least 70% on each section: grammar, math, incident report writing and reading comprehension. James was close on the first test and on his second test got an 86% overall and a 100% on the incident report writing section! James turned in his application on June 29th.

On July 1st he received a letter inviting him to do the physical testing on Saturday July 18 at 3 p.m. It also said that for 25 positions, they would take the top 75 applicants (NPOST score and passing the physical testing) for an oral interview in early August.

On Tuesday July 14, James got to do a ride-along with Officer V for 4 hours. He really enjoyed himself. They staked out a local gas station looking for drug deals and responded to a call of a domestic disturbance at a gas station. They even pulled over a car for no insurance and arrested the driver on warrants. I think James would have stayed past the 4-hours, but Officer V was taking the driver to jail and said it was going to be pretty boring for a couple hours. It gave James a better idea about what a regular officer does (lots of paperwork and driving) and also an increased interest in the work. James said he even enjoyed chatting with the uninsured, warranted driver as he was sitting handcuffed in the back of the police car. Nice guy, for just getting out of jail for burglary.

WVCPD is trying to get federal grants to help them hire and train their 25 new officers. At the PT today, James learned that they haven't gotten the grants, YET. They had 234 applicants for 2 official openings and a possible 25 additional openings. Wow. We'll hope & pray that they get their federal grants!

At 3 p.m. today James was out in the hot, 101-degree sun to do a 14" jump, 16 push-ups, 26 sit-ups and a 1 1/2 mile run in under 15-minutes. Since there were 234 applicants, the WVCPD testers had been outside all day doing physical testing and James was in the very last group. They also said they were only interested in a PASSING score on the physical testing. That meant no extra points for being able to do more than the minimum in push-ups or sit-ups or running faster. That also means that the NPOST scores are more heavily weighted than passing the physical testing. Some of the applicants weren't able to pass the PT, so that helps the odds a little. James passed everything, no problem. Even in 101-degree heat, even after being sick last weekend, even after not doing any push-ups or sit-ups for 2 weeks.

We are expecting another letter this week with an update on if they are still doing 75 interviews, and whether James will be one of those interviewees...