Request By:
Mr. David N. Bloesing
City Administrator
City of Ludlow
227 Elm Street
Ludlow, Kentucky 41016
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of October 27 in which you relate that the city of Ludlow has elected to operate the police department under civil service pursuant to KRS 95.761. All police officers are covered employees under this act except dispatchers which are considered civilian employees. A former sergeant of the department was injured while off duty and was no longer able to carry on the duties of an officer so he was transferred to the position of dispatcher in the police department. You further relate that the officer in question had been receiving state incentive funds under the terms of KRS 15.410 to 15.520 until he was transferred to the position of dispatcher and the Department of Justice, Bureau of Training has advised the city that he is still eligible for incentive pay as long as he is a sworn officer and he meets the training requirements. Under the circumstances, your question is as follows:
"Our question is this: Can this person be put back on the force as an officer in order to be eligible to receive KLEFPE funds without going back through all of the Civil Service Procedures?"
It is apparent that the individual in question is no longer a civil service employee of the police department although he continues to work for the department as a dispatcher. KRS 95.762 and 95.764 require that all applicants for civil service appointments to take an examination in accordance with the rules established by the civil service commission.
The general rule is that statutory requirements under a civil service act must be strictly complied with or in other words enforced as written and such cannot be altered by administrative construction or practice. McQuillin Municipal Corporations, Vol. 3, Section 12.55. Under Section 12.78 of McQuillin, we quote the following:
"Where such examinations are required, they have been said to be essential and not to be dispensed with, and one who has not taken the examination has no civil service status."
The individual in question was removed from his civil service status as a result of his injury and was transferred to a position not covered by civil service presumably under the terms of the rules and regulations adopted by the civil service commission or those under an applicable ordinance establishing the police. True, he at one time did in fact comply with the requirements, but in the absence of any statute authorizing reinstatement without re-examination we doubt that it can legally be done. We believe that in order for this individual to again become a police officer under the civil service act he must be re-examined.
We also call your attention to the requirements of KRS 15.470(2) of the Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund providing that such funds shall be used only to compensate police officers who have complied with KRS 15.440(3)(4)(5). Subsection 5, requires all police officers to successfully complete each calendar year an in-service training course, that is certified and recognized by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council.