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<b>First Posted:</b> 7/29/2007<br><br>By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@www.timesleader.comStaff Writer 


HAZLETON &amp;ndash; A review of city police civil service records shows that some police officer candidates with higher civil service rankings were hired long after candidates with lower rankings.
Between September 2004 and October 2005, Mayor Lou Barletta hired 10 police officers in four rounds of hires.
And although Officer Brian Schoonmaker was ranked sixth of all 30 applicants, he was not hired until the fourth round of hires, after officers who were ranked third, fifth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th and 20th were hired in previous rounds.
Joseph Lyons, who was ranked 13th among all the applicants and has since resigned from the department, was hired at the same time as Schoonmaker.
And Officer Kirk Wetzel, who ranked 11th, was hired two months after Officer Keith McAlarney, who ranked 16th.
Police candidates are ranked by the city&amp;rsquo;s Civil Service Commission based on 70 percent of the candidates&amp;rsquo; written test scores and 30 percent of their oral interview scores.
Each candidate must also pass physical performance and psychological tests, a physical examination and a character background investigation to be eligible for hire.
According to commission rules, the name of one of the three top-ranked candidates on the eligible list is to be presented to the mayor for consideration when a vacancy occurs. If there&amp;rsquo;s more than one vacancy, one name is to be added to the nomination list for each vacancy.
The mayor can accept or reject any of the names presented, according to the commission rules. If he rejects any or all of the candidates on the nomination list, the next highest-ranked candidates are then to be added to the nomination list and submitted to the mayor for consideration.
The Times Leader in January 2005 requested the civil service rankings list and written test scores for candidates on the 2004 civil service list, and the city denied the request. The newspaper sued the city to obtain the information in April 2005.
Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan dismissed the lawsuit, but the newspaper won an appeal in Commonwealth Court, where a panel of judges ruled that Conahan erred in his ruling. The city&amp;rsquo;s petition for appeal to the state Supreme Court was denied in May, and the city recently turned over the rankings and written test and interview scores of the officers.
Many criteria are weighed
Barletta said rankings and test scores are not the only factors he considers in making a hire. He said he considers the psychological and background components of the civil service process as well, and will sometimes bypass individuals with higher rankings based on those considerations.
Asked if he reviews each candidates&amp;rsquo; psychological test, Barletta said he does not because he &amp;ldquo;would not attempt to make a psychological determination. I&amp;rsquo;m not a doctor.&amp;rdquo;
He said he would not hire someone who failed the test, but that point is moot, considering that the Civil Service Commission&amp;rsquo;s rules require that any candidate who fails the psychological test or any other part of the testing process have their name removed from the eligibility list before it even gets to the mayor.
Barletta said he considers a candidate&amp;rsquo;s background check because it&amp;rsquo;s &amp;ldquo;subjective&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;much more detailed&amp;rdquo; than a criminal history check.
According to the commission&amp;rsquo;s rules, should the character background investigation &amp;ldquo;reveal misrepresentation by the candidate,&amp;rdquo; he or she would be declared ineligible for hire by the commission, and the candidate&amp;rsquo;s name would not be submitted to the mayor for hire.
The civil service rules make no mention of providing any information to the mayor other than the names of candidates nominated by the director, who would be the police chief.
But Barletta said there might be information from a candidate&amp;rsquo;s background check that wouldn&amp;rsquo;t preclude the candidate from hire according to the commission&amp;rsquo;s rules, but that might cause Barletta not to hire the person. He gave the example of a candidate admitting to smoking marijuana, but he said there could be any number of reasons.
2 passed over three times
Barletta noted that civil service rules allow him to pass over higher-ranked candidates, and that if a candidate is passed over three times, the candidate is removed from the list of eligible candidates.
However, Schoonmaker and Lyons were passed over three times before they were hired.
They were hired after Schoonmaker filed paperwork questioning why he wasn&amp;rsquo;t hired and also after The Times Leader filed the lawsuit.
Barletta said neither of those occurrences played a factor in the officers&amp;rsquo; hires. Asked the reason, he said he wasn&amp;rsquo;t sure if a new civil service list was generated for Schoonmaker and Lyons&amp;rsquo; hires.
The city still has not produced any subsequent civil service lists that The Times Leader requested on June 6.
Schoonmaker declined comment for this story. Wetzel, who was passed over once, did not return a reporter&amp;lsquo;s call. Attempts to reach the three top-ranked candidates who were not hired were unsuccessful.
Lyons, who was ranked 13th overall, said he ranked third on his written test. He pointed out that he had a previous personal dispute with one of his interviewers, but he said he didn&amp;rsquo;t know if that played a part in receiving an interview score that lowered his overall ranking.
Actually, Lyons tied for ninth place with his final written test score because four candidates had 10 points added to their test scores for being veterans. Without the veterans points factored in, Lyons tied for third place with his written test score.
Barletta referred comment on Lyons&amp;rsquo; remarks to Police Chief Robert Ferdinand.
&amp;ldquo;Many applicants who go through our testing process do very well on the written test, and not so well during the interview phase,&amp;rdquo; Ferdinand said.
Lyons, who works as head of theft prevention for a local store, said he resigned from the city Police Department because he &amp;ldquo;felt as if (he) was being forced out.&amp;rdquo;
Ferdinand said Lyons was never forced out, &amp;ldquo;was given ample opportunity to succeed and was even extended in the field training officer program.
&amp;ldquo;I met with Mr. Lyons at the time of his resignation and he indicated that he did not think that he was able to keep up with the heavy call volume and the numerous reports that are required of a police officer,&amp;rdquo; Ferdinand said.
Lyons said he doesn&amp;rsquo;t feel he received the same level of training as other new officers because his trainer was on vacation for two weeks and then out sick.
Ferdinand said part of the field training officer program involves working with several different training officers over the course of several months, and that Lyons&amp;rsquo; training was &amp;ldquo;on par&amp;rdquo; with that of other trainees.
Lyons also said people removed police reports from his box, and he had to re-do them.
Ferdinand said that was not the case, &amp;ldquo;but to go into further detail would cast Mr. Lyons in a more negative light than I believe is necessary.&amp;rdquo;
Police rankings

Here are the civil service rankings (combination of written test and oral interviews) of Hazleton police officers hired between September 2004 and October 2005.

Sept. 11, 2004: Mark Betz &amp;ndash; 3rd; Shawn Conti &amp;ndash; 5th; Kevin Wagner &amp;ndash; 9th.

Jan. 10, 2005: David Zapatocky &amp;ndash; 10th; Keith McAlarney &amp;ndash; 16th.

March 21, 2005: Kirk Wetzel &amp;ndash; 11th; Joseph Babula &amp;ndash; 17th; Cameo Zola &amp;ndash; 20th.

Oct. 17, 2005: Brian Schoonmaker &amp;ndash; 6th; Joseph Lyons &amp;ndash; 13th.


    

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005.

Some Hazleton cop hires not done by rankings