SWAMPSCOTT — Town residents are getting more involved in determining who will be policing their neighborhoods — and now the department is seeking to become a trailblazer nationwide.
In early 2022, Swampscott Police had their first Oral Board interview with potential police officers as a part of their new hiring process and decided to leave the state’s civil servant hiring process because the previous system “doesn’t reflect the surrounding area at large,” said Capt. Joe Kable.
Interim Police Chief David Kurz helped develop a new, more holistic process entirely from scratch. The resulting process includes a new character exam and an interview with a board of police officers and residents.
At the upcoming International Association of Chiefs of Police convention, Swampscott’s hiring process will be presented as a “national model,” said Kable.
The new exam was designed “to identify [characteristics that lead to] success as set out by the FBI.” The exam also was analyzed to make sure it did not have any adverse or discriminatory effects on candidates of marginalized groups.
The Oral Board is made up of five individuals. Three officers representing the different ranks of the department, including a lieutenant, a sergeant, and a detective patrol officer sit alongside two residents who are active in the Swampscott community.
The board interviews the candidates and assesses them based on qualities like ethics and ability to communicate. Each member scores the candidate and then the board convenes. At the end of the day, the board ranks and votes on the candidates, with both officers and civilians having equal say.
Kable said that having residents on the board has taught the department about what community members look for in an officer. He said that the civilian members are looking for “the kind of people who want to come to their house and have to deal with their most intimate problems … or pull their kid over.”
He added that civilians on the board are less interested in technical qualities of the candidates in favor of qualities like “compassion, thoughtfulness, [well-roundedness], and [approachability].”
Kable said the department believes this is “the best form of transparency.” The new process makes sure no one has to wonder how officers are being chosen because they are “inviting the public to see.” With the increasing distrust in law enforcement, he believes that the new hiring process will let residents be confident that new police officers have “the right set of values.”
Emma Fringuelli can be reached at [email protected].
