POLICE OFFICER

Job Function:

Protection of life and property through the enforcement of laws and ordinances of the City of Mount Dora with an emphasis on community policing. Perform investigative procedures to handle family crisis problems and community related school resources. Performance of police assignments which may involve an element of personal danger. To prevent, discover and document the commission of a crime. To educate the public in the areas of crime prevention. To arrest, or put into action, the prosecution of persons caught committing acts in violation of state, county, or city codes.

Career Path:

Essential Duties:

1. Effect an arrest forcibly if necessary, using handcuffs and other necessary restraint.
2. Subdue resisting suspects using approved defensive tactics maneuvers and weapons as necessary and authorized by written directives.
3. Prepare investigative and other reports to include sketches, correct grammar and spelling, symbols and mathematical computations.
4. Exercise independent judgment to determine if there are reasonable grounds to stop, to search, to arrest, and when force may be used and to what degree.
5. Operate a standard police vehicle, without special modification for individual drivers, during both daylight and nighttime hours and in emergency situations in speeds in excess of normal operation and during unsafe road conditions.
6. Communicate effectively and coherently on radio channels while receiving and properly processing radio communications from the communication center.
7. Gather information by interviewing and obtaining statement from victims, witnesses and suspects.
8. Load, unload, aim, and fire from a variety of positions with handguns, rifles, and shotguns under stressful conditions. This must be accomplished at levels of proficiency as prescribed in certification standards.
9. Perform searches of people, vehicles, building and outdoor areas which may involve feeling and detecting objects, walking long distances for long period of time and stopping and detaining vehicles and persons.
10. Conduct visual and audio surveillance for extended periods of time.
11. Engage in patrol functions which include such tings as working rotating shifts, walking on foot patrol, and physically checking doors and windows of buildings.
12. Effectively communicate with people, including juveniles, by giving them information ad directions, mediating disputes and advising people of their rights.
13. Demonstrate communications skills in court and other format setting such as school and community functions.
14. Detect, collect properly, and submit evidence and substances that provide the basis of criminal offenses and infractions and that indicate the presence of dangerous situations.
15. Endure verbal and mental abuse when confronted with the hostile views and opinions of suspects and other people encountered in an antagonistic environment.
16. Perform rescue functions at accidents, emergencies, and disasters to include directing traffic for long periods of time, administering medical aid, lifting, dragging, and carrying people away from particular areas regardless of weather conditions.
17. Process and transport prisoners and committed mental patients, properly using handcuffs and other restraints.
18. Extinguish small fires by using a fire extinguisher and other appropriate means.
19. Read and comprehend legal and non-legal documents, including preparation and processing of such documents as citations, affidavits, warrants, and reports.
20. Process arrested subjects to include taking their photograph and obtain a legible set of inked fingerprint impressions.
21. Perform criminal investigations of cases.
22. Supervise other officers as the Officer In Charge, in the absence of the police sergeant and police corporal
23. Supervise school crossing guards and reserve officers.
24. Process various crime and accident scenes including, but not limited to, the collection of evidence and photographs utilizing digital, video, and 35mm cameras.
25. Perform varied community relations/community policing type functions, such as school resource, business contacts, survey, and dissemination of information. etc.
26. Perform related functions as assigned.
27. Operate mobile and desktop computer systems and necessary software programs.
28. Transport lost persons
29. Deliver emergency supplies or equipment
30. Operate traffic signal manually
31. Give directions to citizens
32. Report hazardous roadway conditions
33. Escort sensitive cargo
34. Warn citizens of impending disasters
35. Recruit confidential informants.
36. Search for explosive devices
37. Verify warrants before service.
38. Do administrative errands.
39. Relieve dispatcher.
40. Replace school crossing guard.
41. Perform other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Demonstrate ethical and professional behavior
• Analyze information or situations
• Synthesize information or circumstances
• Solve problems
• Recall facts or information
• Describe persons, things, or events
• Read and comprehend information
• Show courtesy
• Speak clearly
• Prepare written reports
• Perceive movement and depth-of-field
• Print legibly
• Follow directions
• Detect Smells
• Operate equipment
• Apply mathematical skills
• Read a map
• Select correct radio codes or situations
• Operate radio equipment
• Follow radio procedure
• Discriminate different colors
• Differentiate between voice transmissions
• Attain and maintain weapons proficiency
• Maintain personal fitness
• Demonstrate firearms safety procedures
• Demonstrate service weapon firing
• Demonstrate shotgun firing
• Demonstrate rifle firing
• Load and/or unload ammunition into firearms
• Operate a motor vehicle
• Demonstrate chemical agent use
• Follow telephone procedures
• Follow intercom procedures
• Apply listening comprehension skills
• Diagram a scene
• Take notes
• Exhibit physical strength and agility, and freedom from serious defects that would preclude one from performing the essential functions of the position.
• Operate various photographic equipment.
• Do computer input
• Use common sense
• Conduct inventories
• Recover lost property
• Handle animal complaints
• Transport prisoners

Required Qualifications:

• High school diploma or Government Equivalency Diploma (GED)
• Basic Recruit Certificate-Law Enforcement Officer from the state of Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, or completion of a Commission-approved equivalency program
• No felony convictions
• No current drug use.
• Valid Florida Drivers License
• Complete the required National Incident Management System (NIMS) training within 6 months of completion of probationary period.

Physical Demands:

• Ability to talk by means of spoken words.
• Acceptable eyesight (with or without corrections).
• Able to distinguish colors, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
• Acceptable hearing (with or with hearing aid).
• Able to lift and /and or carry weights of 100 pounds
• Sitting most of the time.
• Walking or standing for periods of time.
• Use of hands to finger, handle, or operate objects, controls or tools.
• Able to reach with hands and arms, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl
• Able to taste and smell
• Must be physically able to operate a variety of office machines and equipment including computer, copier, telephone, calculator, etc.
• Exhibit physical strength and agility, and freedom from serious defects that would preclude on from performing the essential functions of the position.
• Pursue fleeing suspects and perform rescue operations which may involve quickly entering and exiting police vehicles, lifting, carrying and dragging heavy object; climbing over and pulling oneself over obstacles
• Jumping down from elevated positions
• Climbing through opening, jumping over obstacles, ditches, and streams
• Crawling in confined areas
• Balancing on uneven or narrow surfaces and using body force to gain entrance through barriers.
• Be able to lift and rag a 200 pound person for a distance of 100 feet.
• Be able to climb over a 6 foot wall or an 8 foot fence.
• Be able to run ¼ mile.
• Must be able to operate firearms, department-approved impact weapons, police vehicles, handcuffs, rope, narcotics testing kits, fingerprinting equipment, computer typewriters, measurement equipment, communication equipment, flashlight, first aid kit, flares and safety devices, area maps and diagrams, severe weather clothing, Florida uniform traffic citations, misdemeanor citations, incident report forms, accident report forms, constitutional rights warning cards, writing instruments, cameras, and body armor.

Environmental Conditions:

• Works in outside weather conditions and occasionally exposed to wet and/ humid conditions, fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals, extreme cold, extreme heat and vibration.
• Occasionally works near moving mechanical parts; in high, precarious places.

(Reasonable accommodations will be made in accordance with existing ADA requirements for otherwise qualified individuals with a disability.)

Note: Job Descriptions are only intended to present a descriptive summary of the range of duties and responsibilities associated with specified positions. Therefore, specifications may not include all duties performed by individuals within a classification. In addition, specifications are intended to outline the minimum qualifications necessary for entry into the class and do not necessarily convey the qualifications of incumbents within the position.

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9. E-Verify Works for Everyone For more information on E-Verify, or if you believe that your employer has violated its E-Verify responsibilities, please contact DHS.

The City of Mount Dora is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Mount Dora will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.

Mount Dora is a drug-free, smoke-free, EOE.