[SteveR]

I was talking to the Captain from Totowa about this yesterday. He said it works like this;

There are three tests and you take them in order, from written, then physical, then an interview. Score really good on all three and you'll be at the top of the list. Then they break the list down and prior service goes to the top, then applicants that live in the same town that the department is in, then county, then finally state. He said that you can expect to see 500 or more applicants for a handful of openings so it usually never makes it past the people from the same town. Like Paul said, prior service gets the first shot at the openings, as long as your scores are high and they like you in the interview. You can go to your town and ask when the next time they're giving the test and sign up. It's that easy. Make sure you find a study guide though, he said anything less than a 90 or 95 isn't too good. He said there's some pay website you can join for like $7/month and it lists all of the police openings in the state and you can just go around to all the towns and take their tests and see who calls back.