Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Anyone familiar with how the State of NJ civil service works for transferring from out of state. I am currently with the NYPD. My family all is from south jersey, so I am considering a move back in the next 2-3 years. I am hoping to go from NYPD to a local municipal or county department in south jersey. It is my understanding that hiring in NJ is a little different than NY. My understanding is as follows for a new police officer:

1. Take the State issued test (LEE?)
2. Get selected for appointment by an agency (-ies)
3. Attend some sort of academy
4. Appointment as a police officer

Obviously I intend to take the test when it becomes available. I would be claiming veterans pref. which should put my name at the top of the list according to the state website. I am just curious what the policy concerning the academy is for someone already certified in another state. Would I be required to go to a shorter academy? In service only? Full academy?

Does the decision on academy attendance fall on the the hiring agency or is it mandated by state law?

Sorry for all the questions, but these are the things that I couldn't find on the NJ Civil Service website. Clearly I am not going to leave my current job for anything less than a job I am totally satisfied with, both compensation and location. Thanks for any insight or help.

Depending on the agency, you may not have to go thru the academy again. There are several MOS now serving in Upper Saddle River from our job. The Chief there (now retired) hired them a number of years ago. I remember him telling me he was the first in Jersey to do this. I believe other agency's followed suit.

A township can save a bundle doing this. The MOS got OTJ training and might have had a few days training at Bergen County's Academy. He (Chief) had their training documented by NYS DCJS and the usual background checks. Which might be the biggest stumbling block with Kelly in command. I got this directly from the Chief, at the time we were in a training course in Baltimore. This was just before 9/11.

If you think being NYPD and a veteran in NJ will get you in quick, better get a new plan. NYPD cops are a dime a dozen to NJ, and their training is not fully waived. Additionally, NJ has one of the highest veterans populations in law enforcement.

Also, NJ lets people pay their own way through an academy and then apply for jobs. As a result, they get a fully trained PO at no cost, and usually, they are not prior LEO's so they are not "tarnished" by the job with bad habits, ideas, etc...... NJ has a few thousand of these floating around, many are veterans who used GI bill money and are much more lucrative to hire. They are already NJ residents, have full training and require no investment, and are not jaded/bad habits, etc....

NJ has two types of police agencies:
1) Civil Service agencies
2) Chiefs Test agencies

Civil Service Agencies
-You take a civil service exam that is held by the state every two years. Any civil service agency has to hire off that state exam. Lists are made after the exam based on where you reside when you took the exam. People are ranked by score on these lists:
a) city/town/village
b) county
c) state
d) out-of-state
-As vacancies occur, an agency will get the list. They have to fill vacancies using all candidate who reside from the city/town/village first. Then county, then state. So if Paramus NJ is hiring, they have to use all candidates who passed who reside in Paramus first. Thus, a person who lives in Paramus who scored a 80 gets hired before a candidate who lives in New Brunswick gets a 100.

With few exceptions, civil service agencies do not accept out of state certifications and require you attend their full academy.

As a NYPD cop, you can't live outside NY State and be a cop without problems. The NJ application ask specifically for your residence as an address. So listing mom/dad or the aunt and uncle living in NJ is a problem and can get you DQ'd and in crap with the NYPD.

So what do you do?

Chiefs Test
-Not civil service based. Instead the Chief holds his own test. He/She can score it any way that they want, meaning they can have scores or just a pass/fail.
-Chief can process anyone who passes. So if his Captain has a kid who took the test and scored a 75 and you scored a 95, he can pass over you and process the Captains kid. There is no civil service law for hiring procedures.
-You don't have to be resident!
-Most chief agencies will review you prior training and certification, verify such, and waive most of the NJ academy. Plan on some training (2 week bridge course) to get up to speed with NJ law.


NJ is the hardest place you coudl have picked to transfer to. Over populated with canidates and not enough jobs with a ton of politics!

Thanks to both of you. Joey, as usual with a very informative posting. Sadly enough I am trying to move back to Jersey for reasons not so much job related, but rather family type jobs. My parents are getting older and having a hard time. I want to be closer for them, and also so I can afford more than a townhouse, which I would be lucky to get with the cost of living in NY. I actually do enjoy working in the NYPD, but family comes first for me. At least for now I have a job and I can continue looking, hopefully something will come up like one of those chiefs tests. I wont hold my breath though...thanks.