petervcpt:
Interesting. Your police department must be the only one in Canada that allows a "senior police officer", to set the department's own exams.
Each police service has a promotion committee made up of Administration, Human Resources and Union personnel. Its that committee that make up standards for promotion, which may include various things depending on the department. In our department, seniority, personal assessments by supervisors and an examination all play a part in where the officers ends up on the list for promotion. The committee also selects a senior officer to put the examination together based on his/her years of experience and knowledge of department policy. They select someone who is no longer eligible for promotion because they have gone as high as they can in this promotional process - next levels are by appointment.