Work for Arlington Police

10 Reasons to Work With Us

• A busy community that has some big city problems but in a likable small town environment. Broad and diverse call types between residential, retail, and manufacturing; as well as with the aviation component of the airport. Policing in Arlington is busy and productive involving property crime, drug offenses, and traffic collisions. Arlington is home to nearly all of the School District facilities, a hospital, as well as regional treatment centers.
• Take-Home car program. Newly hired officers are assigned a take-home patrol vehicle for their exclusive use in policing, in most cases assigned the next brand new patrol vehicle purchased by the agency. New job, new car.
• Strong sense of service and community by the employees. You know the community and they know you.
• First-class equipment, training, facilities, and a fleet of police vehicles.
• Up-to-date technology with state-of-the-art computers in both the station and in the vehicles, cellular phones, body cameras, 
• Salary and benefits that is competitive with nearly all the cities in the region. Also, there is additional pay for college degrees, longevity with the agency, and special assignments within the Department.
• Patrol officers also receive 156 hours of pay for the year’s holidays in November of each year. This is nearly an additional month’s pay!
• A very popular 12-hour work schedule for patrol officers of 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off, 2 days on, and 2 days off. So, regardless if you are the newest or the oldest officer, you will have every other Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off.
• With 37 employees, we are small enough to be personal and tight-knit but large enough for growth and opportunity.
• Each of the four patrol teams has a minimum of three officers. Employee safety and being responsive to the community are two of our guiding principles. The Special Operations unit is structured for an Investigations Sergeant, 3 detectives, a school resource officer, as well as other specialty positions including Pro-ACT Detectives and a Community Outreach Team.
• Opportunities to grow, develop, and promote as well as a variety of Collateral duties with 4% Specialty pay: K9 Handler, Detective, Traffic Officer, Airport Resource Officer, Field Training Officer, Range Master, School Resource Officer, Outreach Team, EVOC Instructor, Pro-ACT Team.

Lateral

Applications for lateral entry will be accepted on a continuous basis. Applications are available here.

Entry Level

Entry-level applicants, or those with no civilian police agency experience, may start the application process by taking the written and physical agility exams through Public Safety Testing. For additional information about Public Safety Testing or to sign up for testing, visit their website or call them toll-free at 1-866-HIRE-911.

Applicant Information

After applying, all applicants appear before an oral interview panel. These oral interviews are scored and combined with your written test score to provide a final score. The scores are put in numerical order, with the highest point total being first on the list, and then certified by the City's Civil Service Commission.

Once the list is certified and the department has a vacancy, the Police Chief receives the top five applicants for in-depth testing. From the day of the first appointment with the Police Chief to the first day of work, the time span can be about 60 days.

If you are thinking about policing as a career, consider riding with us. To arrange for a Ride Along, call us at 360-403-3400 or come by the police station, which is located at:
110 E Third Street
Arlington, WA 98223

Helpful Resources

Please contact our Human Resources Department for additional information.