Police Officer Trainee

Police Officer Trainee

The City of Westminster welcomes diverse candidates from the broadest base possible. Our goal is to find the best candidate for the job—someone who belongs, not just fits. We value life and professional experiences, recognizing equivalent combinations of knowledge, skills, and education. Aligned with our city SPIRIT values, the successful candidate will have a passion and commitment to serving a diverse population of residents and must respect and uphold the principles of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. We encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set for this role, even if you believe you have a less traditional background than described we invite you to apply.

Police Officer Trainee is for non-certified applicants. Candidates who are hired will be sent to a state certified law enforcement academy. Upon successful completion of this academy, the Trainee will be promoted to entry-level police officer and must also successfully complete a 16 week field training officer program; plus, all Trainee employees must sign a work agreement with the City of Westminster at time of employment. This position is part of a progression from Trainee to Police Officer/Senior Police Officer. The Police Officer Trainee is a safety-sensitive position that is involved with the complex and specialized activities required to maintain civil order and enforce laws and ordinances. Police Officers are responsible for the protection of life and property, detection and prevention of crime, apprehension of criminals, and enforcement of laws and ordinances in a designated specialized area or on an assigned shift. This is a safety-sensitive position. Starting salary for Trainee is $80,745.60 annually. Upon successful completion of the academy, becoming POST certified, and after one (1) year of service (probationary period), salary increases to $86,715.20 annually. Important dates for this recruitment are as follows:

• In-Person Written Test – Thursday, August 13, 2026 - 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Phone Screens – Wednesday, September 2, 2026 - Times to be determined
• Oral Board Interviews – Thursday, September 10, 2026 - Times to be determined

Westminster is offering a $10,000 Hiring Bonus for ALL Newly Hired Police Officers including Trainees, Certified, and Lateral Officers: ALL Police Officer hires –Trainees, Certified and Lateral Officers will receive $5,000 upon successful completion of field training and $5,000 upon successful completion of their one-year probationary period. The full salary range for this position is stated above. The City of Westminster has a Multilingual Stipend Program to encourage and reward benefited employees who are conversationally fluent in languages other than English. Benefited employees have the opportunity to test their language proficiency skills and qualify for a bi-weekly stipend that will vary based on the employee's level of proficiency and usage.

The City's work culture encourages passionate, positive and enthusiastic employees who, along with our City Council and City Manager, are strong supporters of our mission: The City of Westminster provides high-quality core services and fosters resilience in order to promote a safe and thriving community. Westminster is a city of beautiful, safe, well-maintained neighborhoods and destinations with a vibrant, diverse economy, rich and resilient environment and a strong sense of community belonging. Our core values are embodied in our SPIRIT (Service – People – Integrity – Respect – Innovation – Teamwork). This position supports the goals of the Police Department, which is: Enforcement and education of laws and the apprehension of those who seek to disrupt the quality of life within our community. The Department is responsible for enforcement of State Laws and Westminster Municipal Ordinances pertaining to criminal and traffic issues and to uphold the Constitution of the United States, the State of Colorado, and the Charter of the City of Westminster. The Department is primarily focused on public safety, maintaining peace and order, prevention of crime, and the apprehension of criminals.

Every employee is accountable to:

• Demonstrate a high level of customer service; encourage others to focus on the customer; foster an environment where customer service is a priority
• Communicate with customers to ensure that, where possible they are satisfied and that their needs are being addressed; solicit and evaluate customer feedback
• Act as an ambassador by understanding and fostering the organization's mission and vision
• Exhibit pride in self, the department, the city, and the community; conduct self in a professional manner
• Demonstrate integrity and build trust through credibility, reliability, commitment, loyalty, and ethical behavior
• Address difficult or contentious issues in a constructive manner
• Support/promote change; demonstrate flexibility and takes calculated risks when appropriate
• Participate in personal growth opportunities and attend trainings designed to enhance capacity to bring new skills and ideas to the job and the organization
• Work to continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the service or product being delivered
• Demonstrate support for team efforts by accepting new roles and responsibilities, and helping others achieve objectives
• Value diversity; demonstrate an awareness of differences; demonstrate sensitivity and adapt behaviors and communication to accommodate these differences

General competencies:

• Establish effective interpersonal relationships through honest, open communication and follow-through on commitments
• Recognize personal strengths and weaknesses and target areas for personal self-development
• Demonstrate initiative in performing job tasks
• Exhibit problem-solving skills leading to sound judgment and quality decisions
• Achieve goals, handle assigned workload and new assignments effectively; demonstrate an ability to work independently
• Communicate effectively with individuals and groups using clear and concise verbal and written communications
• Demonstrate accountability for work and take ownership in job performance
• Demonstrate concern for the accuracy and quality of work; take steps to correct mistakes and improve the overall product

Job specific:

Physical Abilities:

• Maintain personal physical fitness
• Restrain and arrest suspects
• Demonstrate proficient use of weapons
• Demonstrate proficiency with the operation of a two-way radio
• Ability to accurately enter data into a software system with 25 wpm speed
• Demonstrate application of safe driving procedures
• Perform a wide variety of physical activities due to the nature of the job

Personal Skills:

• Demonstrate sound judgment, accurate observation skills and learn new information and appropriately apply it to situations
• Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills including assertiveness, emotional self-control, adaptability, initiative, dependability, integrity, teamwork skills, and sound problem-solving techniques
• Demonstrate the ability to comply with laws, rules and regulations
• Appropriately accept advice and constructive criticism
• Demonstrate knowledge of human nature as it applies to human behavior
• Demonstrate ability to learn the local area and to locate most addresses

Essential Job Functions, Duties, Responsibilities and Tasks:

Must be able to act without direct supervision and to exercise independent judgment in meeting complex emergency situations

• Responsible for effective incident evaluation, including:
• Responding to calls for service
• Obtaining appropriate information at the scene
• Accurately evaluating information
• Determining priority of actions at the scene and whether it is a criminal or civil matter
• Collecting, identifying, and preserving evidence and personal property
• Gathering information through interview and interrogation techniques, and making legal admonishments
• Responsible to arrest, detain, search, and preserve safety, including:
• Approaching and detaining suspects
• Making arrests
• Restraining and subduing suspects when necessary
• Using reasonable amount of force necessary for physical arrests
• Legally searching people and property
• Applying appropriate safety precautions in hazardous and potentially dangerous situations
• Maintaining a safe position when dealing with suspects
• Maintaining an awareness of own location and location of other officers and personnel
• Responsible to effectively communicate, both verbally and in writing, while providing appropriate public service and interaction, including:
• Using appropriate oral and written communication to provide law enforcement information and explanations
• Maintaining appropriate courtesy while with the public