Union City police drop college requirement for applicants

People with military experience expected to benefit in change

Applicants for Union City’s police jobs won’t need to attend some college classes to be considered.

The Union City City Council removed the requirement on Oct. 24 by approving its consent calendar, which contains agenda items generally considered routine enough to ratify with a single vote. Council members didn’t discuss the change.

Until now, an entrylevel police applicant needed to complete 15 units of college coursework relevant to law enforcement, in addition to graduating from a police academy. Although college coursework still is valued by the police department, it no longer is necessary.

A city staff report justifying the change states that “public safety positions are becoming increasingly more difficult to fill.”

Union City police Capt. Jared Rinetti said in an interview last week the department requested the change to maintain a broad applicant base, especially for people who went into military service right out of high school.

“In a nutshell, our goal is to find the best qualified applicants for the profession,” he said.

“A lot of our military folks who apply didn’t have an opportunity to attend college,” he added. “And now when they get out of the military and they’re in their 20s, do we want to prevent them from applying by creating this requirement when in fact it wasn’t really an option for them?”

Applicants still need to meet a minimum score in their police academy training, have the equivalent of a high school diploma and have a felonyfree background, among other requirements.

“Education alone is not the key to finding the perfect candidate to serve the community,” Rinetti said. “It’s a factor, but not necessarily the key to identifying the perfect candidate.”

Asked if Union City residents should be worried about police standards being lowered, Rinetti said no.

“In my opinion I do not feel that it’s anything for the community to be concerned with or the city to be concerned with because we have a very thorough vetting process,” he said.

Rinetti said that in addition to requiring applicants to complete a basic police academy, the department runs them through a series of interviews and background checks to find out if they are suitable for the job and why they want to do it.

City Manager Tony Acosta echoed that sentiment, saying the change amounts to increasing access, not lowering standards.

“I don’t spend a minute worrying about the qualifications of our police force,” Acosta said.

Although it wasn’t listed in the city staff report as a reason, removing the college coursework requirement also could help increase the diversity of the police force, Acosta said.

“The higher the barrier is to entry, the more likely you’re going to find less diversity in any organization,” he said. “We don’t want to disqualify someone who has all the capabilities but may have taken a different path to get there.”

Acosta characterized the evaluation of potential officers as a balancing act in which personal attributes, life experiences and temperament, as well as academic achievement, all must be considered.

He said the change “doesn’t in any way diminish our police force’s capability,” and he would have no interest in doing that.

“The proof in this case will be in the pudding,” he said.