I applied through a recruiter. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Pleasanton Police Department (Pleasanton, CA) in June 2022
Interview
I met the recruiting team at an annual career fair event. The team made a particular note that unlike some other police departments, they aren't catty -- which caught my attention. They also pointed out that since their city is more affluent than most of the surrounding cities, they cater to their residents' minor complaints (such as dogs barking) more/differently than they believe other jurisdictions are trained to do.
I had a 2-hour long sit-along and noticed there is no cultural diversity in the team despite them catering to a diverse Bay Area population. One of the employees was unprofessional and complained a lot about the job and the stresses of the job despite the complaints being quite standard issues and expected in this field, so this didn't seem healthy/well-adjusted to me. The folks were otherwise friendly, open, and quite comfortably sarcastic with one another.
There's no windows in the dispatching room. Usually 2-3 dispatchers work together at a time and shifts are typically 3/12s with a required alternating 8 hr shift on every other Wednesday. A 1 hr break is included in the shifts (a recent change) and you can leave the premises as long as you stay close (i.e., to to up a meal for take out) so you can quickly return in case an emergency comes up. Their on-site fitness center also has 2 Peloton bikes.
Email communication wasn't the best; there were some inconsistencies.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
Tell me about yourself and any related experience.