Recruitment Plan Yields 25 New Deputies

Aggressive efforts to recruit deputies for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department are starting to produce results, officials say.

The department filled 25 slots over the last six months, about half its vacant deputy positions, reversing a two-year slide in hiring and allowing more deputies to be sent out on patrol.

By going after local candidates, offering hiring bounties, testing more frequently and creating a provisional deputy classification, the Sheriff’s Department is on track to be fully staffed within a year, said Undersheriff Craig Husband.

“It’s been a long process, but we are starting to make up some ground,” he said last week.

The county’s apparent success contrasts with the situation in Los Angeles County, which has struggled to find enough officers to run jails and patrol streets. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is trying to fill 1,000 vacant deputy positions, an effort made more difficult by a requirement that the recruits work from four to five years in the troubled jail system.

Ventura County faces a similar problem, but the bigger challenge in recent years has been financial, officials said.

Budget reductions in 2003 and 2004, and a contentious lawsuit over public-safety funding, prompted reductions in staff and a freeze in recruitment, said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Keith Parks.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors settled the funding lawsuit in April 2005, and the sheriff’s budget has since stabilized, Parks said. In October, supervisors agreed to a $189,000 recruiting campaign to help fill 60 open positions in the 750-deputy force, Parks said.

That program includes a $1,000 stipend for any county employee who successfully recruits a deputy to the Sheriff’s Department. So far, 15 referrals have been made, Parks said.

Capturing “homegrown” candidates has become crucial as housing prices spiraled in Ventura County, Parks said. In December, the median price of a home was $630,000, beyond the reach of a deputy’s pay, which starts at $50,000 and goes up to $70,000 after about two years.

The county also has sent recruiters to career fairs, athletic events, fitness clubs and colleges. Last month, 200 people attending the L.A. Auto Show stopped by a recruiting booth to fill out contact cards, Parks said.

Most effective has been the reintroduction of a provisional deputy classification, Parks said. After just six weeks of training, such deputies are assigned to jail duty as sworn officers, he said.

They must complete the five-month sheriff’s academy boot camp to become full-fledged deputies. But the provisional status allows them to work almost immediately, while deciding whether law enforcement is for them, Parks said.

“It allows them to see if this is a career that they want to do,” he said. “A couple in the jail have said, ‘No, this is not what I want to do.’ But the others are still there.”

The first group of 22 provisional deputies is working in the jails, and another 22 are expected to join them by May, Parks said. That will allow Sheriff Bob Brooks to move regular deputies out of the jails and onto the streets, where the number of officers has been cut in recent years, Parks said.

Working in the jails is often a deterrent to prospective deputies; many prefer patrol to jail duty, which is loud, stressful and generally unpleasant, he said.

Though the Sheriff’s Department employs some lower-paid civilian workers to operate the county’s two jails, Brooks prefers using deputies because of the flexibility, Parks said.

“You can’t send the [civilian workers] out on patrol,” he said. “What good are they to you if you need them for a riot?”

It takes at least six months to complete the hiring process. Candidates go through rigorous screening, including written and physical agility tests.

For every 100 applicants, about three make it all the way through, Parks said. On a recent weekend, about 200 men and women came to the sheriff’s training center in Camarillo to try to make the first cut.

Of the 64 applicants who showed up for the morning session, 34 passed the written exam. Two others were eliminated after background screenings.

Those remaining were put through a series of physical challenges, including running, dragging a 165-pound dummy and scaling a wall.

Twins Nicole and Amber Brazier, 22, of Simi Valley were among those competing. Nicole was able to complete all the physical tasks despite wearing a cast for a broken arm.

Amber was unable to get over the wall, but was invited to try again at a March testing session.

The department is holding more frequent testing sessions to speed the hiring process, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Adford.

Nicole Brazier said she and her sister have made a law enforcement career their goal. Since they both still live at home, housing is not an immediate concern, she said.

“I know we can both do it and we’re ready for it,” Nicole said. “I want a lifelong career with the county.”

Michael Becker, 38, of Camarillo was hoping to change careers. He was a bread salesman until six weeks ago, when he was laid off. The single father said he sees the deputy job as secure and well-paying.

“They have great healthcare and pensions, and that is obviously something I’m paying a great deal of attention to right now,” he said.