Police Officer- Academy Graduates

The members of the Martinez Police Department are dedicated to providing the highest quality police services. The Department has a staff of 53 FTE’s, (37 sworn and 16 FTE professional staff), with an annual operating budget of $16.6 million.

The Martinez Police Department offers a full slate of policing services to the community, including officers dedicated to investigations, traffic enforcement, tactical unit, canine (K-9) units, homeless outreach, crisis intervention, and community engagement/social media. Active reserve officer and cadet programs supplement the Department and further strengthen community involvement.

The Department operates its own communications center, providing 24/7 emergency and non-emergency dispatch services for the Martinez Police Department and other agencies. The Department assigns its officers in Neighborhood Policing Areas to further engage the community.

Definition

Under general supervision, patrols an assigned area in the enforcement of law and order; carries out special assignments in the protection of life and property; serves as a liaison between the police department and the local community and performs related work as required.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The Police Officer is a journey-level law enforcement class that performs the full scope of assigned law enforcement duties and responsibilities under general supervision. While incumbents are normally assigned to a specific geographic area for patrol or traffic enforcement, all functional areas of the law enforcement field, including investigation, youth services, administration, and training are included. New incumbents may have limited related experience but are expected to learn the full range of duties and responsibilities, perform duties with minimal direct supervision, and exercise sound judgment and discretion in making decisions.

This class is distinguished from Police Sergeant in that the latter is the first supervisory level in this sworn class series who perform more complex and difficult tasks and are responsible for organizing, assigning, supervising, and reviewing the work of staff on an assigned shift.

Representative Duties

This section contains a list of duties that are typical for this classification. Incumbents may not perform all of the listed duties and/or may be required to perform additional or different duties from those set forth to address business needs and changing business practices.

• Patrols assigned areas of the City by car, motorcycle, bicycle, or on foot to preserve law and order, discover and prevent commission of crimes, and to enforce traffic and other laws and ordinances; maintains awareness of and remains alert for wanted suspects, known criminals, stolen vehicles, missing persons, traffic violators, and crimes in progress; issues warnings and citations;
• Responds to calls for the protection of life and property, the enforcement of laws and ordinances, general public service calls, and complaints including those involving automobile accidents, traffic hazards, misdemeanor and felony incidents, domestic disturbances, health code and local ordinance violations, property control, civil complaints, and related incidents; responds to and provides assistance at a variety of public service type calls that are non-criminal in nature;
  Conducts initial and follow-up investigations at scenes of incidents; determines what, if any, crime has been committed; collects, preserves, processes, photographs and books evidence; locates and interviews victims and witnesses; identifies and interrogates suspects;
• Prepares and serves search and arrest warrants; apprehends and arrests or cites offenders for crimes committed under federal, state, and local laws and codes; controls and mitigates people under the influence of drugs or alcohol or other potentially hostile situations;
• Directs traffic at fires, special events, and other emergency situations; provides traffic and crowd control at parades, festivals, riots, and other events;
• Serves as liaison and public relations officer for the assigned area; establishes and preserves good relationships with the general public; may develop reliable informants and provide intelligence information to divisional and/or departmental personnel;
• Contacts and cooperates with other law enforcement agencies in matters relating to the apprehension of offenders and the investigation of offenses; may respond to requests for assistance from agencies outside the City for mutual aid in the suppression of civil disturbances, apprehension of criminals, or other related requests;
• Performs a variety of administrative and other types of duties in support of law enforcement services, programs, and activities; attends meetings; maintains and calibrates specialized equipment;
• Inspects establishments providing alcoholic beverages and entertainment;
• Administers CPR and first aid in cases of emergency;requests medical attention when necessary;
• Testifies in juvenile, civil, traffic, municipal, and…