I need sheriff info

[Unregistered]

I'm a 21 year old female (struggling) college student (no degree yet) trying to find out whether a position in the sheriff's dep is for me. I am having trouble finding the info I want. Maybe someone knows about a website I should see, a place I should go, or has first hand info for me.
I am especially interested in Search And Rescue special unit positions. I assume that I would have to serve patrol before being able to apply for a special unit. Am I right?

[abqblue]

My depatment is throwing together a tactical tracking team with those of us that have taken the classes and etc. I am in a police department and I think everyone will agree that being a deputy and being a city officer are a little different so I wont speak for the deputys out there. I am writing because one of the instuctors our department used is a retired deputy out of Washington state that was on numerous fugitive tracking and rescue operations as a deputy. I am sure he would be happy to answer the questions you have. His name is J. Frantzen and he can be reached via his organizations website http://members.aol.com/mantrack/

[DepDog]

I have been a Sheriff's Deputy for 6 1/2 years. What exactly do you need to know.

First off I enjoy working the entire county, instead of being confined to a small city. Our county is 24 miles by 24 miles, which equals 576 square miles. I used to work in a 6 by 6 mile Township, and it seemed I was always running in circles.

I got the luxury of patrolling the entire county, without having to keep driving on the same roads. Our Department is not constantly running from call to call to call, so I get quiet times to enjoy to myself driving around looking for suspicious activity, making a few traffic stops here and there, doing property checks, stopping at area businesses talking with people etc...

The major city in the county I work in is constantly running from call to call to call. Its a college town CMU (Central Michigan University)so mostly its dealing with loud parties, music drunk students, larceny's, destruction of property, false alarms at businesses etc... Sure they get paid a little more money than our Dept. but thats not for me constantly on the go.

Most of your larger Sheriff's agencies have specialized positions for which your interested in Search and Rescue. Our specialized positions include Detective, Drug Enforcement, DARE Officer, Traffic Safety Enforcement Team, Youth Services Unit, Community Policing Officer. We don't have our own Canine Unit, because there are 3 other agencies in our County that have Dogs already.

Visit a couple of your local police agencies and see if they have ride-along programs, where you can ride with an officer for a few hours or all shift too see what it is like. You can work in a 2-3 Officer full time Dept. which is mostly a small village or city. Or in a 150 Officer full time Dept. which may include cities with 60,000-80,000 residents. Or in a Dept that has several hundered Officers which include large Metropolitian cities. Our Dept. has 25 full time Deputies and we work 4 days a week 10 hour days.

I hope this information helps. Good luck

[Unregistered]

DepDog:
First and foremost, I have been heaaring a lot of horror stories lately about what goes on on patrol and I want to know if I have what it takes. I am the kind of person who tends to take things head on and very serriously, I don't like to give up - it makes me feel guilty. I have heard that law enforcement causes some officers to become suicidal because of the stress of handling dangerous sitations.
I know that the department trains you to deal with the situations you come into. But I would like a glimps beforehand of what sort of things a deputy has to deal with on a daily basis while I get into running shape and wait for the apply date to come around.

Plus - for the special units - there is no real info on whether you have to have prior expeerience in the field or not on my local sheriff web page. I e-mailed the sheriff recruiter and have recieved no response.
by the way - I live in San Diego CA

[DepDog]

I work road patrol and love it. I can imagine working in California is a lot different than in Michigan where I work. So I cannot compare the two states. Yes being a Police Officer does cause a lot of stress. I am sure some Police Officers have taken their own lives by suicide, but I don't think that many do. I cannot recall any incidents in this area in my almost 11 years as an Officer.

I guess you are the only one that will know what it takes to do this job. While in the testing process there are several things that you must pass to continue in hiring process. So I guess if you cannot pass written tests, physical agility, background check, interviews, psychological exams etc... you won't make it far.

Every day is different in this job, you never know what to expect on the next call. You have to take each one at a time, and hope you make the right decisions. As I said before contact some local agencies around you and see if you can ride along. Many agencies have reserve and volunteer programs also.

As far as getting into a specialized unit, I guess it depends on what unit your tyring for. If it is search and rescue then sure prior training will help you get into that unit. Most agencies will send you to further training to help assist you as well.