The Dept. of Public Safety (DPS) has once again scheduled a test date for local residents interested in becoming cops. The next police academy, the first to be offered in three years, is set to start during the second week of November, after it was postponed for three months because DPS couldn’t get enough people who could pass the test and fill the 20 open slots.

Those who applied at the Dept. of Human Resources (DHR) are scheduled to sit the entrance test on Thursday, Nov. 6 at the Governor H. Rex Lee Auditorium in Utulei. The test will be offered in two separate sessions: the first one from 8 a.m. - 11 a.m. (last names Afoa - Palu) and the second one from 12noon - 3 p.m (last names Pasikale - Wilson).

The names of those scheduled to take the test are printed in today’s issue of the Samoa News. This is the second time the new ‘revised’ test is being offered. The new ‘revised’ police academy entrance test was compiled after collaboration between the Dept. of Public Safety (DPS) and the Dept. of Human Resources (DHR) and no details were given on how the ‘revised’ test differs from the first one that was offered twice this year in June and again in August.

The first of the ‘revised’ tests was offered earlier this month where 86 people took the test and only six passed. The DPS is budgeted to take 20 police academy recruits and so far, they have 16.

Ten out of over 300 people (2%) who took the test during the summer months passed.

But alternates may have to be sought, as passing the test is only the first of many requirements needed in order to become a police officer.

Other requirements include passing a physical fitness test, a psychological evaluation, an oral interview, and a background check. This means those who passed the test may not necessarily pass the other requirements.

 According to the job announcement, the salary range for the incoming trainees will run from $10,471 to $23,471.