Pennsylvania Act 1951-265 — REGULATING POLICE IN SECOND CLASS CITIES

Act text

AN ACT

Regulating the appointment, promotion, suspension, reduction, removal and reinstatement of employes (except superintendents, assistant superintendents, inspectors, chief clerks and school guards) in bureaus of police in cities of the second class; and defining the powers and duties of civil service commissions in such cities for such purposes. (Title amended June 10, 1955, P.L.147, No.45)

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. All positions in the bureau of police, except as hereinafter provided, in cities of the second class, shall be in the competitive class of the civil service of such cities. This act shall not apply to or include superintendents of police under the direction of the department of public safety by whatever title his position may be designated, nor his ranking assistant superintendent by whatever title his position may be designated, nor to the inspectors or chief clerks in bureaus of police in such cities, nor to school guards.

(1 amended June 10, 1955, P.L.147, No.45)

Section 2. (2 repealed June 10, 1955, P.L.147, No.45)

Section 3. Each applicant for original appointment to any position in the competitive class in any bureau of police in any city of the second class shall undergo a physical examination, subsequent to a mental examination but prior to appointment, which shall be conducted by a commission composed of doctors of medicine appointed for that purpose by the mayor. Said commission shall certify to the civil service commission that the applicant is free from bodily or mental defects, deformity or disease that might incapacitate him from the performance of the duties of the position he is seeking. No application for such appointment shall be received from any person who is under eighteen years of age or over thirty-five years of age at the date of his application. A city of the second class may require a police officer to become a bona fide resident of the city as a condition of employment. Any applicant for reinstatement as a member of the bureau of police who shall have served as an employe in such bureau of police for a period of more than six months shall be eligible for such reinstatement, even though such applicant shall be over the age of thirty-five years. A city of the second class may require a reinstated police officer to meet the same residency requirement as all other police officers.

All original appointments to the position of police officer in the bureau of police shall be for a probationary period of six months. If at any time during the probationary period the conduct or capacity of the probationer has not been satisfactory to the appointing officer, the probationer shall be notified, in writing, that he will not receive absolute appointment, whereupon his employment shall cease; otherwise, his retention in the service shall be equivalent to final appointment.

(3 amended Oct. 24, P.L.1605, No.195)

Section 4. Reinstatements as employes in said bureau of police may be made without any restriction or restrictions as to time. No examination, other than a physical examination as directed by the civil service commission, shall be required in any case of reinstatement. Any person so reinstated shall be the lowest in rank in the bureau next above the probationers in such bureau.

Section 5. No person employed in a competitive position in the bureau of police in any city of the second class shall be eligible for promotion from a lower grade to a higher grade until such person shall have completed at least four years service in the grade of patrolman.

Section 6. Vacancies in positions in the competitive class shall be filled by promotions from among persons holding positions in a lower grade in the bureau of police. Promotions shall be based upon merit to be ascertained by tests to be provided by the civil service commission and upon the superior qualifications of the person to be promoted as shown by his previous service and experience. The civil service commission shall maintain a list of those persons qualified for promotion to the next superior position, from which list the director of the department of public safety shall make all promotions from among the first four names appearing on the list at the time the promotion is to be made. The civil service commission shall have the power to determine in each instance whether an increase in salary constitutes a promotion.

Any person taking a competitive examination for promotion in the competitive class in the bureau of police shall, upon request, be permitted after such examination to see his examination papers and to review his answers with those who conducted the examination.

(6 amended July 9, 1963, P.L.217, No.124)

Section 6.1. In addition to existing powers of promotion in the bureau of police, cities of the second class are hereby authorized to create such additional classes of detectives as they shall determine to be designated as Detective Class I, Detective Class II and Detective Class III. Such classes of detectives shall carry salaries which shall not be less than the maximum of salaries of patrolmen and not greater than the minimum salaries of detectives presently existing in cities of the second class, and shall consist of members of the police bureau who have been assigned to such additional classes of detectives because of a particular aptitude for investigation, outstanding meritorious service, or unusual and exceptional bravery.

Assignments to the several additional classes of detectives shall be made in the following manner. Whenever a member of the police bureau is recommended by his superior officer for assignment to one of the additional classes of detectives authorized in this section a police merit board shall be convened.

The board shall be constituted in each instance in the same manner as police trial boards authorized by law. The police merit board shall hear such evidence as may be pertinent to the case and shall thereafter make its recommendation. Such recommendation shall then be forwarded to the superintendent of police who shall endorse thereon his approval or disapproval of the board's finding. Thereafter the said report with the endorsement of the superintendent of police shall be submitted to the director of the department of public safety who shall take such action thereon as in his discretion he deems proper. In case of such assignments to an additional detective classification the member of the bureau of police so assigned shall retain his civil service status under the civil service laws then in effect. Whenever for any reason within the discretion of the director of the department of public safety it is deemed necessary or desirable to reassign any such member to his former position the said director of the department of public safety shall have the right to make such reassignment. Civil service commissions of cities of the second class may, in their discretion, make such rules and regulations for grades, merits, or credits, concerning the positions authorized by this section and relating to promotional examinations for such positions in the bureau of police as they may see fit. Rules and regulations relating to promotional examinations shall not require as a condition of taking any such examination that the applicant have any experience or service other than the completion of four years of service in the bureau of police.

(6.1 amended July 9, 1963, P.L.217, No.124)

Section 7. Any employe in any bureau of police in any city of the second class convicted of a felony shall be summarily dismissed from employment by the director of the department of public safety.

(7 amended Mar. 20, 1990, P.L.78, No.17)

Section 8. (8 repealed Mar. 20, 1990, P.L.78, No.17)

Section 9. If, for reasons of economy or lack of funds, it becomes necessary for any city of the second class to reduce any employes of its bureau of police, then the city shall follow the following procedure:

First. If there are any employes in its bureau of police eligible for retirement under the terms of any police pension fund, then such reduction shall be made by retirement on pension of the oldest in age and service.

Second. If the number of employes in its bureau of police eligible for retirement under the pension fund of said city is insufficient to affect the reduction in number desired by the city, or if there is no eligible person for retirement, or if no retirement fund exists in said city, then the reduction shall be effected by suspending the last man or men, starting with probationers, that have been appointed. Such removal shall be accomplished by suspending in numerical order, commencing with the last man appointed, all recent appointees, until such reduction shall have been accomplished. Whenever the number of employes in the bureau of police shall be again increased in number, or if any vacancies occur, the employes suspended under the terms of this act shall be reinstated to their former class before any new appointees are appointed, in the inverse order in which they were suspended.

Compiler's Note: Section 9(b) of Act 173 of 1978 provided that section 9 is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent with 1 Pa.C.S. § 2301(d) (relating to equality of rights based on sex)..

Section 9.1. (a) No employe in the competitive or non-competitive class in the bureau of police, except any such employe who has been convicted of a felony and whose appellate remedies have been exhausted, shall be removed, discharged, suspended, demoted or placed on probation, except for just cause which shall not be religious or political. The procedure for an employe to challenge a removal, discharge or suspension or placement on probation is subject to collective bargaining. Collective bargaining concerning the procedure shall commence within thirty days of the effective date of this amendatory act. Collective bargaining and, in the event of a collective bargaining impasse, arbitration shall be conducted in accordance with the act of June 24, 1968 (P.L.237, No.111), referred to as the Policemen and Firemen Collective Bargaining Act, except that the time to request collective bargaining provided for in section 3 shall not apply if this amendatory act takes effect on a date that makes compliance with section 3 impossible.

(b) Any procedure adopted by the employer and the employe bargaining representative, either by agreement or through arbitration, must culminate in arbitration before a panel consisting of one arbitrator appointed by the employer, one arbitrator appointed by the bargaining representative of the employe and a neutral arbitrator selected by the arbitrators appointed by the parties. If the parties are unable to agree upon a neutral arbitrator, the American Arbitration Association or its successor shall be requested to submit the names of seven disinterested persons qualified to act as the neutral arbitrator. From such list in the first arbitration conducted under this section, the employe bargaining representative and employer, in that order, shall strike one name until six names have been eliminated. In the second and subsequent arbitrations, the striking order shall alternate between the employe bargaining representative and the employer. The person whose name remains will act as the neutral arbitrator. The decision of the arbitration panel will be final and binding on all parties. The city shall pay the cost of arbitration.

(c) In addition to the requirements confirmed in subsection (a), any procedure adopted or awarded must grant the employe the right to file an initial grievance against the employer. The employe must be provided the opportunity to be informed of and to respond to any charges made against him prior to being suspended or discharged from employment.

(d) The arbitration panel and procedure provided for in subsection (b) shall terminate on January 1, 1995.

(9.1 amended Mar. 20, 1990, P.L.78, No.17)

Section 10. All persons holding appointive positions in the bureau of police in any city of the second class upon the effective date of this act shall continue to hold such positions, subject to the provisions of this act, except that they shall not be required to take any examinations required by this act other than examinations required for promotions.

Section 11. So much of section one of article three of the act, approved the seventh day of March, one thousand nine hundred one (Pamphlet Laws 20), entitled "An act for the government of cities of the second class," as relates to the removal and dismissal of policemen in cities of the second class, as reenacted and amended by the act, approved the fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred thirty-seven (Pamphlet Laws 1761), is hereby repealed.

The act, approved the twenty-third day of May, one thousand nine hundred seven (Pamphlet Laws 206), entitled "An act to regulate and improve the civil service of the cities of the second class in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; making violations of its provisions to be misdemeanors, and providing penalties for violations thereof," and its amendments, are hereby repealed in so far as they relate to employes in bureaus of police in cities of the second class.

All other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.