Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 12:00 pm

By JIM MANSFIELD
Special to the Press
GLEASON – The city of Gleason and its police department is using a novel approach in the hiring process for two new police officers, including forming a panel of interested citizens to aid in the evaluation of the potential new hires.
Two full-time positions recently became available after one officer resigned and another was dismissed for cause.
Gleason Police Chief Jeff Hazelwood and the panel met Thursday night and listened to each of the five final candidates respond to 15 questions regarding professionalism and educational background, including continuing education and personal data.
Hazelwood explained this part of the process to the panel in his orientation remarks prior to the interviews.
“The hiring of a police officer is an important part of city government and we want to known what our citizens think,” Hazelwood said.
Hazelwood explained the interviews are just one part of a hiring process that also includes the initial application, background verifications, one-on-one interviews and a written test.
The members of the panel were asked to rate each candidate on a scale of one to 10.
Hazelwood said he would make his final recommendations to Gleason Mayor Dianna Poole and the city board this Thursday night during the regular monthly meeting. At that time, in an open public meeting, the board will have an opportunity to review all of the collected data, discuss and finally vote on the two hires. The final hiring decision rests with the mayor and the board.
Before the interviews began, Hazelwood said the candidates would be brought in one at a time and asked the same 15 questions.
“These questions were chosen and designed to give us some insights into the individuals’ personalities,” Hazelwood said. “In most cases there are no right or wrong answers.
The questions began with personal experiences, such as how the candidates spend their free time, whether they had any experiences dealing with the elderly, teenagers, younger children or people who are disabled.
One question asked the candidates if they had any future plans to learn more about Gleason city ordinances and law enforcement in general.
Other questions concerned professionalism. Each candidate was asked about his experiences with crowd control, medical emergencies and communications skills. They were also asked if they knew the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.
Seated on the citizens panel were insurance agent Ronny Arnold, Randy Stewart of Gleason Dirt Company, city alderman Charles Bookout, city recorder Angela Hunt and law enforcement officer Gary Vandiver.
Published in The WCP 2.12.13