Sworn Officer Hiring and Recruiting
We are initiating a hiring process in anticipation of upcoming openings and additional staffing needs in 2008.
You will need the following items to apply for a police officer position:
What Does The Brooklyn Park Police Department Offer the Police Professional?
If you are applying for your first police position, we offer a comprehensive and thorough field training program designed to give you the practice, skills, and confidence to successfully handle a solo patrol assignment. We emphasize officer safety, and provide the professional quality tools you need to do your job well. We make a huge investment in each officer we hire, and we work hard to help each one of them achieve success. If you have what it takes, you will find our training program challenging, but not impossible.
If you are already a police officer and seeking a bigger department with more variety and excitement, this is the place for you. They handle a great variety of challenging calls that require them to develop a high level of professionalism, knowledge, and skill. You will go through a shortened FTO program for officers with patrol experience that recognizes your existing professional talents and abilities. We offer many specialized assignments at the officer level to give you a wide breadth of professional experiences over your career and provide substantial training each year to keep your skills sharp. We keep up with changes in technology, tactics, and equipment, and often are among the first agencies to implement new tools and tactics. We take pride in being on top of our profession.
Brooklyn Park has large enough to have a variety of assignments for officers, but still small enough that we all know each other by first name. Most of our specialized assignments and extra duties require only the completion of the probationary period and good job performance. Some have additional requirements. Here are some of the options available to our officers:
- SWAT Team (entry team, snipers, and hostage negotiators)
- Community-Oriented Policing Unit
- Drug Task Force (we have two investigators assigned to our regional task force)
- Detective
- Canine Officer (two canine handler positions)
- Traffic Unit
- DARE Officer
- School Liaison Officer (Junior High or High School)
- Honor Guard
- Safe Streets Unit (a proactive, flexible unit that gives special attention to hot spots)
- Field Training Officer
- Firearms Instructor (monthly shoots keep officers proficient in this skill)
- Defensive Tactics Instructor
- Gang Strike Force
- Driving Instructor
- Awards Committee
- Uniform Committee
- Background Investigator
- Reserve Unit Advisor
- Explorer Advisor
- Cadet Advisor
In addition, we expect to have significant turnover of our ranking staff over the next decade, so we will likely have sergeants, lieutenants, and captains’ positions open for promotion in that time period. This is a Department of opportunity for the officer with initiative, skill, and dedication.
Please feel to contact our Department with any questions.
All our application materials are available online. For more information, contact:
Lt. Lee Folstad
(763) 493-8172
Brooklyn Park Police Officer Hiring Process
- Application. Applications must be submitted by the application deadline date to be considered in the current process. Applications received after the deadline are held on file for up to 12 months for our next hiring process.
- Application Review. In the application review, minimum requirements are checked, work history is assessed, veteran's preference is applied, traffic violations are reviewed, and the applicant's skill in relaying information in a written format is evaluated.
- Written Test & Panel Interview. Applicants passing the application review will be invited to both a written test and a panel interview. We use the Standard Police Officer Selection Test, a timed test with four sections (mathematics, reading comprehension, grammar, and report writing). A study guide is sent to candidates. The panel interview asks questions about your life experiences. The panel will be composed of Brooklyn Park police officers and supervisors. The test and interview scores will be combined, and the top-ranked candidates will be scheduled in rank order for background investigations.
- Background Check. Candidates will be asked to fill out a background packet and sign releases allowing us to make inquiries about them. The packet will be reviewed with the candidate by a background investigator during the panel interview appointment. The background check, which takes about a month, is thorough and comprehensive.
- Chief’s Interview. The top finalists passing the background check will be invited to interviews with the Chief of Police.
- Rule of Seven. We operate on the rule of seven. The Chief may consider up to seven finalists for each open position.
- Conditional Offer & Conditions. If a conditional job offer is made, the finalist must pass a medical/physical exam, a psychological exam, and a drug test before the offer is finalized and a start date set.
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Peace Officer License
You must have a Minnesota peace officers license or be certified by POST as eligible to be licensed as a peace officer to accept a police position. All police officers working in Minnesota must have a peace officer’s license from the Minnesota Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Board. We can only make a job offer to applicants with a peace officer’s license or who are certified by the POST Board as “eligible to be licensed.” You will be asked to attach a photocopy of your license or your POST letter of eligibility to your application to show you meet these requirements.
What if I haven’t taken my POST test yet?
Law enforcement students in the last year of a POST-approved Professional Peace Officer Education (PPOE) program may still be able to apply. For each hiring process, a POST test date will be publicized in the job posting. If you are planning to take your POST test by the publicized date, you may apply and will be considered for the open positions. Be sure to mark the date you anticipate taking your POST test on the application. If your test date is too far away, we will hold your application for up to 12 months for the next hiring process.
License reciprocity for out of state and military police officers.
Out of state and military police officers must have received their Minnesota peace officer license reciprocity by the application deadline date to be considered. For information on becoming licensed in Minnesota, please access the
Minnesota POST Board. The reciprocity process takes about two months and is good for three years when approved. For questions on reciprocity, call Dan Glass at the POST Board (651-643-3060).
For more information, please contact:
Lieutenant Lee Folstad Brooklyn Park Police Department
5400-85th Ave N
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota 55443
763-493-8172
Contact Information:
Brooklyn Park Police Department
5400 - 85th Ave N
Brooklyn Park, MN 55443
(763) 493-8222 (Office)
(763) 493-8393 (Fax)
bppolice@brooklynpark.org
