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POSITIONS IN THE PROTECTIVE OCCUPATIONS

INTRODUCTION

Following is a model for a position evaluation system applicable to nonsupervisory positions in Federal protective occupations. The system is one of the subsystems within the Special Occupations Evaluation Systems (SOES). It is a whole job ranking system, such that:

(a) it provides four skill levels, exclusive of purely trainee positions;

(b) differences in skill levels are based on distinctions, as a whole, on the factors of job requirements, difficulty of work, responsibility, personal relationships, and nature of working environment as these factors apply to Federal protective positions; and

(c) it provides benchmark position descriptions for each of the four skill levels. The benchmark positions serve as standards or guidelines against which agency jobs are to be compared for the purpose of determining into which of the skill levels the agency jobs are to be slotted.

Trainee positions under this system are not classified into skill levels, but rather will be paid a percentage of the salary for the skill level of the lowest productive position in the occupation for which the employee is being trained.

A. Mixed Duty Positions

B.

C.

In evaluating a position which involves the performance of work in two or more occupations (e.g., guard and firefighter) or more than one level in the same occupation, the job is to be evaluated on the basis of the work and requirements that are most significant in terms of the overall purpose of the position and the duties that are performed on a recurring basis. Then, the job should be slotted into the appropriate skill level.

General Instructions

As with all other job evaluation systems, successful application of this ranking system depends on understanding of the job being rated, its relationship to other jobs, and sound judgment in making comparisons to appropriate benchmark positions for the levels under consideration. The standard "do's" and don't's" apply to a ranking system, also; i.e., evaluate the position, not the employee; work from a complete and accurate job description, etc.

Salary Considerations

This paper also presents in SECTION VII certain considerations and proposals for the construction of a model for the compensation of nonsupervisory positions in the protective occupations.

THE CURRENT SYSTEM

Under the current grade structure system specified in Sec. 5104, Title 5, U.S. Code, nonsupervisory protective positions (excluding trainee positions) are classified or ranked in the Federal service in seven different grades or levels. Classification standards are issued specifically for each protective occupation (viz. Guards, Firefighters, Police, etc.) and indicate the basis on which grade/level distinctions are to be made in each specific protective occupation.

Policemen, and four for Deputy U.S. Marshals.

All of the positions in the protective occupations (referred to above) are paid in accordance with nationwide (uniform) rates in the General Schedule (Sec. 5332, Title 5, U.S. Code), in alinement with appropriate grade levels, although recruitment and employment for the protective positions are basically local or regional in character. Individuals in these positions tend to spend their entire working years in the same geographic area.

However, the U.S. Park Police and the Executive Protective Service (employed in
Washington, D.C.) are exempt from Title 5. Their ranks and pay are set in accorance
with the ranks (classes and subclasses) and pay of the District of Columbia Metropolitan
Police Force.

The Zoological Park Police of the Smithsonian Institution are also exempt from the General Schedule. Public Law 91-34, effective June 30, 1969, gave the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution authority to set police rates at not more than step 5 of GS-7 (currently $9,726). Zoo police are hired at step 1 of GS-7 (currently $8,582), a rate which is now $82 per year higher than the current minimum rate of $8,500 for the D.C. Metropolitan police, set in June 1970.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a proposed simple whole job ranking system for the classification or evaluation of nonsupervisory Federal positions in the protective occupations. The duties of employees in these occupations are, in brief, to: protect life and property and maintain order on Federal installations (or in leased property); prevent and suppress fires on Federal property; enforce certain Federal laws and regulations; and perform investigations related to the previous activities, which may be criminal or noncriminal in nature. Some Federal protective personnel perform their work on non-Government premises.

The protective occupations covered by the job evaluation system proposed herein are those occupations, which require:

knowledges, skills and abilities typically employed in police or
police-type work, e.g., knowledge of laws, ordinances, citizens'
rights; ability to direct, detain or guard persons; observe and
report facts; trace persons; make arrests; seize goods or property
under authority, etc.;

2. knowledges, skills, and physical abilities employed in performing
fire protection, fire fighting, and related tasks; and

3. knowledges, skills and abilities required to safeguard personnel, or personal and government property on federally occupied space, including leased space, involving knowledge of laws, regulations, citizens' rights ability to direct, detain or guard persons; observe and report facts; make arrests, etc.

Exposure to hazard in some degree is characteristic of employment in these occupations. Most protective and law enforcement personnel must possess the physical abilities required to perform hazardous or strenuous tasks; and many employees in these occupations wear sidearms and must possess the ability to use them under proper circumstances.