CAREERS EDITION 2014
Recruiter
community, who treat people fair-
ly, have an open mind. For a lot of
the young people coming on, we
are looking for technological
skills; law enforcement is growing
exponentially, so we need people
who are able to keep up with that.
But when I talk about diversity, I
like diversity of backgrounds and
experience with people. So every
person we hire brings something
different to the table in that
respect.
TSN: Virtually every law
enforcement jurisdiction in the
Northwest is hiring now and will
be for the next few years. What are
some of the other jobs besides the
patrol officer?
Henderson: There are other
positions related to the Police
Department, such as police service
technicians. They work the front
counter, they take police reports,
and they have direct contact with
the people to come into lobby.
They do a lot of work for us and
they are what we call non-sworn
employees.
We also have professional office
assistants, the chief has his assis-
tants upfront, and they do a ton of
administrative work. We have evi-
dence technicians, which are civil-
ian positions, and those things
people can find as they look
online. When you look under
careers on the city’s website, those
things are all good to look at. It
doesn’t have to just be a police
position.
TSN: One of the things we hear
from the police accountability
movement time and time again, is
that we need to get more local
people from the local community
to get these jobs and patrol in their
own neighborhoods. But it is a
hard job. Can you talk about the
hardest things about it that poten-
tial police recruits need to prepare
themselves for?
Henderson: I like that you say
that. I’m doing outreach to a lot of
local people, people with ties in
the local community. One of the
biggest reasons that is important,
is that there’s a big miscommuni-
cation with our communities and
society in general about just what
it is that police actually do. A lot of
times I’ve had people call and
complain, and I say, come out and
do a ride along with me, and I’ll
show you what the situation is out
here.
Our perception of the police in
our whole nation is driven by the
media, so when you see things on
the news, it can get sensational-
ized, I think. There are laws and
procedures, and a lot of times I
think people don’t understand why
the police do what they do.
One prime example is, people
ask why can’t police just shoot the
gun out of a person’s hand. That’s
just not reality. We as a police
have not done a good job of com-
municating what it is we actually
do and don’t do in the community.
What are we not allowed to do?
I often say that people do not
have a problem with me violating
somebody else’s rights when it
concerns them, but boy they sure
will yell and scream if they have
an issue and they want that dealt
with right away. You know what I
mean? We have a lot of rules, reg-
ulations, and like I said I’m not
making a lot of excuses. There are
examples of poor behavior in law-
enforcement and any other profes-
sion.
TSN: What can a police bureau
applicant expect?
Henderson: the first things
they’re going to do are take a writ-
ten test, and a physical agility test.
Then if they pass that we are going
to bring them in for a video test,
and look at some scenarios, and
they have to describe what they
saw. Then we’ll give you another
interview, and if you pass that
interview and you score high
enough, then you’ll make it to my
desk; I or one of my detectives
will do a background investigation
on you. We are going to get into
everything about you. We’ll talk to
all the previous employers, all
your friends, your family. We
check your credit history, criminal
history, driving history– basically
any history that you can think of.
If you pass that part of it, then
we give you a polygraph examina-
tion. Then you do another inter-
view, and we will conditionally
offer you a job — based upon the
successful completion of a psy-
chological evaluation in person by
the psychologist in a medical
examination.
We also do a pre-psychological
investigation at the front end of
this, you have to score within a
certain range to be considered.
People who score high risk cannot
move on in the process. It doesn’t
mean you’re crazy or anything
like that, it’s just that studies have
shown that while not everybody
has the same personality and we
do not want that, there are certain
parameters that are indicators of
whether or not someone would
make a good police officer.
TSN: What advice you have for
young people?
Henderson: You know it’s
PHOTO CREDIT VANCOUVER POLICE BUREAU
continued from page 7
Vancouver Police Sgt. Dave Henderson
funny, I just came back here about
five months ago, and I’ve worked
patrol most of my career. Coming
in here and doing interviews and
such, my biggest advice to people
is learn how to conduct an inter-
view. It’s about learning how to be
appropriate, learning how to come
in and conduct an in-person inter-
view. Look people in the eyes. In
your mind, upfront, think about
what you want to say and relate to
us. You want to be able to stand
out.
And that goes for any job. For
younger people, I really see a lack
of general interviewing skills.
For more information on
employment with the Vancouver
Police Bureau, go to www.cityof-
vancouver.us/police/page/careers.
Crisis
continued from page 5
TS: I thought you might talk about the money because it’s
not the best paid job.
JA: Well, it’s true that community mental health is not
extremely well paid and we do have individuals who have
really sacrificed to work in these careers. But they do it
because they care about people and want to help them.
TS: Our culture has a long history of not dealing well
with mental illness. How are we doing now?
JA: I think when it comes to doing the work, we have
made some real progress. We have more integration of med-
ical, mental health and substance use treatment. So we are
working with all the facets of an individual’s life and view-
ing that person as a whole person.
We are working with all the
facets of an individual’s life
and viewing that person as a
whole person
Also, in the last several months we have seen a large
increase in the number of people who have health insur-
ance. That is very significant.
As a society there is a still a lot of stigma and a lot of edu-
cation that needs to be addressed.
I am a mental health first aid trainer and our agency is
very supportive of mental health first aid and youth mental
health first aid. That is a training that educates the general
public on how to counteract stigma and help people who are
in a crisis. It’s an internationally recognized training and
it’s really helpful.
May 21, 2014 The Skanner News Careers Edition Page 11