Employment
Employment
This domain covers the statutory minimums an agency must verify before hiring someone as a peace officer, the reporting duties that follow appointment, and the probationary period.
Statutory minimums
Under NRS 289, a peace officer must:
- Be a citizen of the United States.
- Be at least 21 years of age.
- Hold a high school diploma or equivalent (GED).
- Have no felony conviction and no conviction for domestic violence (barred by both Nevada standards and federal law).
- Pass a background investigation, fingerprint check, medical examination, psychological examination, and drug screen.
An agency may adopt stricter standards, never looser ones. A conditional offer does not waive a statutory minimum.
After appointment
Appointment is reported to POST, and certification must follow within one year. The officer serves a probationary period during which the agency may separate employment with far less procedural exposure than after the property interest in continued employment attaches. Certain separations and discipline must be reported to POST.
Worked example
An applicant turns 21 three weeks after receiving a conditional offer. The agency may extend the offer and wait, but it cannot appoint or certify him as a peace officer before his twenty-first birthday - the minimum is statutory, so agency enthusiasm cannot cure it.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming agency discretion can override a statutory minimum; assuming a misdemeanor DUI is an automatic statutory bar (it is not, although most agencies disqualify on policy grounds); assuming laterals are exempt from the one-year certification deadline; treating the psychological examination as optional paperwork.