Section 4509 - General provisions relating to examinations(a) Each commission shall make rules and regulations, to be approved as herein prescribed, providing for the examination of applicants for positions in the police force or fire department or as a fire inspector and promotions therein. The rules and regulations shall prescribe the minimum qualifications of all applicants to be examined and the passing grades.(b) All examinations for positions or promotions in the police force and for positions or promotions as firemen or fire inspectors shall be practical in character and shall relate to such matters and include such inquires as will fairly test the merit and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the employment sought by them. All examinations shall be open to all applicants who have the minimum qualifications required by the rules and regulations, but in no case shall an applicant for promotion in the police force be considered until such applicant shall have first served three years in the police force in which he seeks promotion. Each applicant for examination shall be subject to the rules adopted by the commission, and shall be required to submit to a physical examination.(c) Public notice of the time and place of every examination, together with the information as to the kind of position or place to be filled, shall be given by publication once in a newspaper or papers of general circulation in the county at least two weeks prior to each examination. A copy of the notice shall be prominently posted in the office of the commission or other public place.(d) The commission shall post in its office the eligible list containing the names and grades of those who have passed the examination for positions under this article. (e) In cases of applications for position to the police force or for positions as firemen or fire inspectors, soldiers, as defined by the act, approved the twenty-second day of May, one thousand nine hundred forty-five (Pamphlet Laws 837), entitled, as amended, "An act providing for and requiring in certain cases preference in appointments to and retention in public position or on public works for honorably discharged persons who served in the military or naval service during any war in which the United States engaged; and in certain cases for the widows and wives of such persons," shall be entitled to all the preferences and benefits therein provided, so far as applicable.1953, July 28, P.L. 723, art. XV, § 1509. Amended 1963, Aug. 13, P.L. 662, § 1, effective 1/1/1964; 1976, Dec. 2, P.L. 1226, No. 270, § 1, imd. effective.