Crime Prevention Specialist - Police

The San José Police Department is dedicated to providing public safety through community partnerships and 21st Century Policing practices, ensuring equity for all. The Department is committed to treating all of San Jose’s diverse community members with dignity, fairness, and respect, while protecting their rights and providing equal protection under the law.

The San Jose Police Department (SJPD) is recruiting for Crime Prevention Specialist positions within the Bureau of Field Operations (BFO). The Crime Prevention unit is comprised of 13 employees with twelve (12) Crime Prevention Specialists.

(CPS) assigned to each of the four divisions under BFO and one (1) Crime Prevention Supervisor. The Crime Prevention Unit is tasked to promote police and community partnerships and problem solving by bringing safety education, awareness, and training to people where they work, worship, learn, live, and play. The unit supports patrol with community policing and problem-solving projects. The unit is also called upon to conduct Neighborhood and Business Watch Programs, National Night Out, Youth Violence Prevention curriculum development and instruction, web page resources, and serve as a liaison to the media for community events.

Under direction of a Crime Prevention Supervisor, the CPS will act as a liaison between the police department and the communities, readily available to answer questions, provide information and give referrals to the general public regarding matters related to crime prevention topics. The Crime Prevention programs and services are designed to provide the tools the community needs to participate in crime prevention efforts in their neighborhood.

The essential functions of this position include but are not limited to:

- Act as a liaison for SJPD with the community, providing a consistent and personal point of contact;

- Provide a resource for the general public, city staff and SJPD members regarding crime prevention and quality of life issues;

- Provide crime prevention presentations, training and awareness programming;

- Interact with social media and must possess knowledge of public relations;

- Meet with community members and identify social conditions that result to neighborhood disputes, grievances and other related social problems and take the appropriate action;

- Identify social conditions responsible for generating neighborhood disputes and take appropriate action;

- Prepare and deliver lesson plans relative to the prevention of various crimes to include: burglary (residential and commercial), robbery, shoplifting, internal theft, fraud, credit card and check abuse, identity theft and sex-related crimes and personal protection;

- Participate with business and community members in designing crime prevention programs to meet specific needs to include recommending specific prevention apparatus, such as locking devices, alarm systems and lighting systems;

- Must have knowledge of the principles and practices of crime prevention;

- Must have knowledge of the availability of social services aid from local, State and Federal agencies as they pertain to housing, medical aid and counseling services.

- Must have public speaking skills to represent the Police Department.

Desirable Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, including courses in social sciences or another related field
• History of presenting subject matter to a variety of groups
• Bilingual in Vietnamese, Spanish or other language

Competencies 

The ideal candidate will possess the following competencies, as demonstrated in past and current employment history. Desirable competencies for this position include:

Job Expertise - Demonstrates knowledge of and experience with applicable professional/technical principles and practices, Citywide and departmental procedures/policies and federal and state rules and regulations. Knowledge and experience in quantitative and qualitative data; performing complex statistical and analytical research.

Customer Service – demonstrates the ability to anticipate customers’ needs and deliver services effectively and efficiently in a timely, accurate, respectful and friendly manner.

Initiative – exhibits resourceful behaviors toward meeting job objectives; anticipates problems, is proactive, and avoids difficulties by planning ahead; displays willingness to assume extra responsibility and challenges; pursues continuing education opportunities that promotes job performance.

Building Trust – communicates an understanding of the other person’s interests; needs and concerns; identifies and communicates shared interests and goals; identifies and communicates differences as appropriate; demonstrates honesty, keeps commitments and behaves in a consistent manner.

Facilitation – exhibits behaviors and techniques that enhance the quality of group processes.

Problem Solving – Approaches a situation or problem by defining the problem or issue; determines the significance of problem(s); collects information; uses logic and intuition to arrive at decisions or solutions to problems that achieve the desired outcome.

Communication Skills - Effectively conveys information and expresses thoughts and facts clearly, orally and in writing; demonstrates effective use of listening skills; displays openness to other people’s ideas and thoughts.

Multi-Tasking - Can handle multiple projects and responsibilities simultaneously; has handled a wide variety of assignments in past and/or current position(s).

Computer Skills - Experienced with common business computer applications including but not limited to: MS Outlook, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Access, MS Excel, and virtual platforms.

Teamwork & Interpersonal Skills - Develops effective relationships with co-workers and supervisors by helping others accomplish tasks and using collaboration and conflict resolution skills.

Selection Process 

The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's training and experience based on the application and responses to the Job Specific Questions. You must answer all job-specific questions in order to be considered for this vacancy, or your application will be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. 

Only the candidates whose backgrounds best match the position will be invited to proceed in the selection process. Additional phase of the selection process may consist of one or more interviews.

You will be prompted to answer the following job-specific questions during the online application process. Please note that there is a 4,000-character limit, including spaces, for each text response. 

- Please describe in detail your experience in work concerned with improvement of inter-group relations, delinquency prevention, community welfare, social development, community relations program, or developing lesson plans AND classroom type of teaching. Please specify your years of experience and the organizations you worked for. Your answers should be consistent with your work history.

- Please describe in detail your experience in public speaking, conducting oral presentations and coordinating and facilitating group meetings and/or instructional programs. Please describe your target audience to the topics and techniques applied in coordinating presentations and/or facilitating meetings.

-Please describe in detail your experience working with mainstream media and public relations including social media.

- Please describe your proficiency working with virtual platforms and/or webinars.

-If you are bilingual in Vietnamese, Spanish, or any other language, please list your ability to speak, read, and write in the language. Please include your level of fluency.

If you have questions regarding the duties of this position, please contact Sandra Garcia at (408) 277-4133.

If you have questions regarding the recruitment, selections, or hiring processes, please contact Alexandria Rodriguez via email at [email protected].