Mafnas also wants to include psychological evaluation among the requirements for police academy applicants.
He said he wanted to make DPS “a department second to none.”
According to Mafnas, once the 1999 austerity measure is repealed, promotion and reclassification of personnel will undergo a “competitive process.”
DPS is currently undergoing organizational restructuring, said Mafnas, who assumed the position last March.
He is also the commissioner of the Department of Corrections.
In 2009, several police officers filed in Superior Court a petition for a judicial review of a DPS decision relating to a grievance against the department.
The grievance alleged, among other things, that DPS failed to comply with the promotion, salary/merit increase, and competitive selection process regulations required by law. The lawsuit remains pending in court.
Mafnas said he wants future trainees to have “qualities and character to become an officer.”
“It is not easy. It is a difficult job,” he added.
Mafnas reiterated the four components of his policy: care, discipline, training and treatment.
Currently, applicants certified by the Office of Personnel Management are required to meet the following requirements:
• Intensive special background check, local and federal
• English placement test
• Agility test conducted by a DPS academy physical fitness instructor
• Interview process with the DPS interview committee
• A drug test
