The City of Galesburg is looking for officers who are committed to serving the citizens of Galesburg in an ethical, unbiased and professional manner. The Galesburg Police Department provides our officers with all of the training, equipment and tools to set them up for success. The Galesburg Police Department is a professional organization dedicated to providing excellent service to the community we represent.
Galesburg is a community of 30,052 residents. Galesburg is a regional community with a hospital, shopping, home of Knox and Carl Sandburg Colleges, quality schools, and many recreational and cultural activities.
Galesburg police officers work a fixed twelve-hour shift and days off schedule. Activity levels vary considerably by time of year, day of week and hour of the day. Galesburg officers can expect a wide variety of calls for service from quality of life-order maintenance, to serious crimes in progress calls. Officers are typically assigned to a specific geographic zone allowing the officer to become well acquainted with the neighborhood he/she serves. Galesburg Police officers are encouraged to be proactive and self-driven in an effort to enforce the law and serve the community. The Galesburg Police Department is a career organization, providing career officers a pension at twenty or more years of service.
The City of Galesburg Board of Fire and Police Commissioners conducts all testing and hiring of sworn personnel (patrol officers) for the Galesburg Police Department. There are two tracks for police officer applicants; pre-certified entry level, and certified officer entry. To apply as a certified officer you must have completed police officer academy training in Illinois, or another state in which the training is recognized by and transferable to Illinois. Additional requirements are listed below. The testing process includes an orientation, a physical agility test, written test and an interview.
Important Information:
Police Patrol positions are an overtime-eligible, bargaining unit position with a starting rate of $32.57 per hour, plus excellent fringe benefits. The pay range for this position is $32.57-$40.40 per hour.
Entry Level Candidates-
- Applications are currently not being accepted.
- For more information on the previous testing cycle, click here.
- Next Exam Dates: TBD
- Questions: Contact Amanda Jennings | Email: amanda@ci.galesburg.il.us
Lateral Entry Candidates-
- Applications are currently being accepted.
- Apply online
- Additional details and requirements are described below.
General Requirements
- AGE: Must be 20 years of age to test and 21 years of age at time of appointment. Applicants shall be under 35 years of age at the time of application and posting of the final eligibility list, unless exempt from such age limitation as provided in Section 5/10-2.1-6 of the Illinois Fire and Police Commissioner's Act. Veterans are allowed to exceed the age provision by number of years served on active duty, but by no more than 10 years of active service.
- DRIVER'S LICENSE: Must possess a valid motor vehicle operator's license.
- EDUCATION: A High School Diploma (or G.E.D.).
- PHYSICAL APTITUDE: Must be able to perform the duties of the position.
- MORAL CHARACTER: Be of good moral character with no felony convictions.
- CITIZENSHIP: Applicants must be a U.S. Citizen.
- RESIDENCY: All employees are required, as a condition of their continued employment with the City, to maintain their principal residences within the state of Illinois, and within a radius of forty-five (45) miles, by straight-line radius and not as determined by means of a surface streets and roads measurement, from Galesburg City Hall. This residency requirement shall be construed to mean actual “in fact” living and residing within the area described herein. Any person appointed to a permanent City position shall become a resident of the described area within thirty (30) days after the expiration date of such employee's probationary period if the employee is to be continued in the City's service.
Required Documents
- Copy of Birth Certificate or proof of U.S. Citizenship
- Copy of current, valid Driver's License
- Official College Transcript(s)
- Copy of Military Service Record DD 214 (if applicable)
- Copy of Minimum Standards Basic Law Enforcement Training Course Certificate (if applicable)
Orientation and Physical Agility Test (Entry Level)
All entry level candidates that submitted a complete application are required to attend orientation. The physical agility portion is typically held after orientation. Additional details will be provided during each testing cycle. The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board has established the Peace Officer Wellness Evaluation Report (Power) Test as the standard for entering any of the Illinois certified police academies.
Written Test
The written exam consists of a general aptitude test. Candidates who fail to achieve a passing grade will be notified by email and eliminated from the process.
Interview
The Commission shall select a number of candidates (the number to be determined at the discretion of the Board and announced at orientation) from the top of the Initial Eligibility List who shall be required to submit to an oral interview. The interview consists of properly evaluating and grading the candidate on speech, alertness, ability to communicate, judgment, emotional stability, self-confidence, social skill and general fitness for the position. On completion of each oral examination the Commissioners will discuss the candidate's abilities using the traits listed above. Candidates who fail to successfully complete the oral examination will be notified and eliminated from all further consideration.
Initial Eligibility List
The Commissioners will prepare an Initial Eligibility Register of the candidates successfully completing the orientation, physical ability test (if any) and written test. Candidates shall be placed on the eligibility list in order of their relative excellence as determined by their test scores. This register is subject to change with the addition of any claimed preference points as prescribed in 5/10-2.1-8 and 5/10-2.1-9 (a) of the Act.
Preference Points
Within 10 days of the posting of the Initial Eligibility Register, candidates listed may make a claim for preference points by providing proper documentation. Failure to timely make a claim for preference points shall constitute a waiver thereof. Preference points shall be awarded as listed below. Points are non cumulative with 5 being the maximum granted.
- Military Preference - 5 points- Awarded to applicants who have served a minimum of 12 months of active duty in the service of the U.S. Military and who have either been honorably discharged or, in lieu of an honorable discharge, are still serving in an active or inactive reserve status at the time of application.
- Education Preference - 5 points- Candidates must have an Associate's Degree in Law Enforcement or Criminal Justice or a Bachelor's Degree in any field from an accredited college or university at the time of application.
- Police Explorer - 2 points - Awarded to applicants who participated in this agency's Police Explorer Program.
Final Eligibility List
Preference points will be added to the Initial Eligibility List to create the Final Eligibility List. The Final Eligibility List will be effected for two years unless such list is exhausted. Final appointment for the Police Department shall be from the names appearing on the Final Eligibility Register. The names of the applicants shall be placed upon the Final Eligibility Register in rank order, highest first. Rank order shall be based upon the applicant’s total cumulative score which shall be calculated as follows:
- Original written test score multiplied by 67%; and,
- Oral interview score multiplied by 33%
Applicants shall be appointed from the eligibility list in descending order. The Board may, at its discretion, choose to appoint an applicant, for a police officer’s position, who has been awarded a certificate attesting to his or her successful completion of the Minimum Standards Basic Law Enforcement Training Course, as provided in the Illinois Police Training Act, ahead of non-certified applicants.
lateral Entry Candidates
The Board finds that allowing officers who are employed in similar law enforcement positions to apply for employment will be of benefit to the Galesburg Police Department.
Applicants who wish to qualify for the lateral entry program must:
- Be a State of Illinois police officer certified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, or certified in another state recognized by the ILETSB; and
- Be at least twenty-one years of age.
- Employed as a police officer with a regular police department in any municipal, county, university, or state law enforcement agency.
Lateral entry applicants shall:
- Submit an application to the Board; and
- Submit to an interview and background check by a GPD investigator; and
- Be interviewed by the Board; and
- Complete an entry level written examination
- If requested by the Board, submit to a psychological evaluation, polygraph examination and medical examination.
Appointment
If a vacancy exists, the next candidate on the list either from the Entry Level Final Eligibility List or the Lateral Entry Eligibility List will be contacted to determine his/her interest in potential employment. Appointment from a Final Eligibility Register is subject to satisfactorily passing or completing a psychological examination, a polygraph test, background investigation and a medical examination (which may include a test of the applicant’s vision and hearing, a test for the presence of communicable diseases as well as a test to screen for the use of drugs and/or narcotics).
Any person whose name appears on the Final Eligibility Register may decline appointment once. It shall be the option of the Board, should a candidate decline appointment a second time, to strike from or maintain upon the register the name of such candidate without otherwise altering the candidate's original position on the Final Eligibility Register.
Probationary Appointment
All original appointments to the Police Department shall be on a probationary basis commencing upon the date the officer first reports for duty and continuing for a period of twelve (12) months. A probationary period may be tolled for those periods of time a probationary employee, is unable or unavailable to perform the assigned duties due to required training or due to injury or illness (whether or not job-related) if such periods of absence exceed 30 days. Probationary employees may be summarily dismissed by the Board and are not entitled to the protection afforded to other full-time officers by statute or these rules.
Final certification of probationary police officers shall be subject to successful completion of the Basic Law Enforcement Training Course, as mandated by the State of Illinois, as well as successfully completing all requirements of the departments field training program within the prescribed probationary period. Inability to successfully complete the course and the FTO program shall be grounds for dismissal.
Employment Information
Additional details on employee benefits are provided by the City of Galesburg Human Resources Division.