The hiring process for a police officer begins with a formal application and resume. These are reviewed by the Deputy Chief of Operations to determine what applicants meet the basic criteria for consideration. A number of things add to one potentially being considered, a college degree, military service, previous law enforcement training and Maine Criminal Justice Academy certification to name a few. Also required are an ALERT Test and a Physical Agility Test. The ALERT conversion score must be a at least a 37 and the PAT requires the applicant to pass three areas, push ups, one minute sit-up test and 1.5 mile run. Prior to the Physical agility test the applicant must produce a note from a physician stating he is physically capable of performing the test.

Once the above is satisfactorily completed applicants are invited to participate in an interview. This interview is held at the police department. The interview panel consists of the Deputy Chief of Operations, a patrol sergeant, a patrol officer and the Director of Human Resources for the city. All the applicants that advance to the interview stage are graded on a number of areas such as Personal Appearance, Ability to Present Ideas, Soundness of Judgment, Situation Analysis and Capacity for Growth to name a few. The scores are tabulated and discussed amongst the panel resulting in a list of prospective candidates in the order the panel recommends they continue in the process.

Once candidates are listed in order of preference the list is given to the Chief of Police. If necessary the choices are discussed and once the chief is comfortable with the choices he directs the Deputy Chief of Support Service to begin a back ground investigation on the applicant. The Deputy Chief either does the background himself or he assigns it to a detective. Once the background is completed and it is favorable the candidate moves to the polygraph which is performed by an outside contractor. If the results of the polygraph are favorable the candidate moves to the psychological exam and then a physical exam conducted by a physician representing the city.

After successfully completing this process the candidate meets with the Chief of Police for a Chief's interview. It is at this time that the Chief offers the applicant a position with this agency.