Tewksbury Police Drop Civil Service Exam Requirement For Hiring

TEWKSBURY, MA — The Tewksbury Police Department "will now accept applications from a larger pool of potential police officers" by dropping the civil service examination requirement, according to a police statement.

Town Meeting approved a warrant article in 2023 petitioning the governor and Legislature to remove the department from hiring restrictions of the Massachusetts Civil Service Law. The Legislature concurred, and Gov. Maura Healey signed the petition, which takes effect March 1.

"This change will streamline our hiring and cut down on the difficulties of navigating the Civil Service hiring system," Police Chief Ryan Columbus said in a statement. "Hiring police officers has become more challenging for a number of reasons, and this will allow us to attract a wider range of candidates from inside and outside the state."

Tewksbury police will offer its own hiring examination in place of the civil service examination. There will also be a physical fitness examination, with preference given to Tewksbury residents and military veterans.

The police department will continue to use civil service examinations for making promotions, and officers will continue to have civil service protections once they have completed their one year of probationary work with the department. The change will have no impact on current employees.

The town will take into consideration candidates that took the most recent civil service exam.

Officers who are hired will still have to complete a Massachusetts Police Training Commission-approved police academy and undergo a 12-week field training program.

"We believe this change will enable us to recruit and evaluate even more talented candidates from a wider pool of applicants, which will be extremely useful in this challenging environment," Columbus said in a statement. "We are able to make this change while maintaining a preference for Tewksbury residents and military veterans. We think this will be a big win for our effort to recruit talented candidates."