Police Officer

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/30/2024.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-5: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree in Police Science or a comparable degree program related to the work of the position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application.
OR
Successful completion of one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-4 grade level (or equivalent pay band) in the Federal service that has provided the candidate with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of a Police Officer. Specialized experience is work that provided knowledge of a body of basic laws and regulations, law enforcement operations, practices, and techniques and involved responsibility for maintaining order and protecting life and property. Creditable specialized experience may have been gained in work on a police force; through service as a military police officer; in work providing visitor protection and law enforcement in parks, forests, or other natural resource or recreational environments; in performing criminal investigative duties; or in other work that provided the required knowledge and skills. At this level, police work must have included patrolling assigned area(s) to enforce laws and ordinances, regulate traffic, control crowds, prevent crimes and/or arrest violators. Experience as a security guard or corrections officer is generally NOT qualifying. NOTE: Examples of this specialized experience must be documented within your resume.
OR
Equivalent combinations of education and specialized experience. NOTE: Successful completion of a Federal, State, county, or municipal police academy or comparable training course that included at least 40 classroom hours of instruction in police department procedures and methods, and local law and regulations, may be substituted for a maximum of 3 months of specialized experience. Documentation of completion of such a program must be submitted with the application in order to receive credit.

GS-6: Successful completed one year of specialized experience to at least the GS-5 grade level (or equivalent pay band) in the Federal service that has provided the candidate with knowledge of a body of basic laws and regulations, law enforcement operations, practices, and techniques and involved responsibility for maintaining order and protecting life and property. Specialized experience includes maintaining order to protect life and property; taking initial complaints; interviewing witnesses; securing a crime scene and conducting limited searches; responding to emergency situations; gathering information and preparing reports; conducting routine patrol, traffic control, and traffic accident investigations. Experience as a security guard or corrections officer is generally not qualifying. You must provide detailed information of your experience performed. Information such as "I was a Patrolman", "I was a Police Officer for a number of years," or "I enforced Federal, State, county, and laws" is insufficient to determine your qualifications. NOTE: Examples of this specialized experience must be documented within your resume.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: Routine patrol requires regular and recurring physical exertion, long hours of standing, walking, driving and similar activities. Responds to alarms, pursues suspects, participates in training activities, climbs stairs and walks during assigned foot patrols in and around the large buildings. Agility, dexterity and strength are needed to pursue, apprehend and detain uncooperative suspects. On a regular and recurring basis, the work requires strenuous exertion physically restraining disorderly individuals to prevent harm to others or the individual. Police work is performed both indoors and outdoors in all types of weather. Police Officers may work prolonged hours, especially during inclement weather or during a disaster situation. The incumbent is expected to maintain a high standard of physical fitness and hand and eye coordination in order to maintain his or her semi-annual qualification with his or her assigned firearm and annual qualification with his or her assigned departmental issued intermediate weapons.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Additional Requirements:

• Must possess a valid driver's license.
• Must successfully complete the VA Law Enforcement Training Center (LETC) Academy.
• Must successfully complete a physical agility test (one mile run, push ups, and sit-ups) using the VA LETC standards prior to appointment.
• Must achieve and maintain qualification on agency-approved firearms, intermediate weapons, and CPR.