Posted: 12/7/2014 9:32:23 AM EDT
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I start my testing for the local county jail on Wed. and have a quick question. How in the heck do you research anything about a jail other than location and bed capacity? These places are like black holes and learning anything about them is difficult. So when it comes to the oral boards how do you learn about the inside? |
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You should be able to find out size of jail as far as capacity. But other than generic information about the department, if you are entry level they shouldn't expect you to know that stuff. If you can go on the sheriff's dept. Website and find out how many members in the department, what the rank structure is, name of Sheriff/undersheriff/Jail Superintendent, etc. Any of that information you bring to the table will show you made some effort to learn about where you're trying to work.
I'm responding from a phone so sorry for grammer/punctuation |
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When I applied, and got hired, for a jail the interview was mainly scenario based questions.
Would you shoot a fleeing felon, what do you do if your supervising a group of 4 inmates and they all run off in different directions.... Stuff like that. My jail interview was probably the easiest one I ever had, I noticed police interviews were much more abstract. |
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Quoted:
I start my testing for the local county jail on Wed. and have a quick question. How in the heck do you research anything about a jail other than location and bed capacity? These places are like black holes and learning anything about them is difficult. So when it comes to the oral boards how do you learn about the inside? They don't expect you to know specifics of the jail They want to know if your head is screwed on right to handle the job correctly They'll train you on anything you need to know job related I had no idea what a CO did when I took the test, and actually only took the test as practice for taking civil service tests in general When they called me for an interview 6 months later I'd even forgotten that I'd taken the test at all |
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Well, I went and took my written and my physical. Video:86.9% Cell counts:100% Report writing:100% Written:96.4% Physical: max score. I don't know at what point they add veterans preference but that will give me an additional 10% to all the scores. Now I am just waiting to hear back from the dept. Next step is the oral board. After that its the polygraph, medical, pshyc and background. The jail here is run by the by the sheriff so you have to go through the same process as the road deputies. In my current job as hospital security I work with A LOT of what the jail rejects because they are "to high" or "to drunk" or "to crazy". But last night a couple of jail deputies brought in an offender and I started to chat with them. turns out one of them is on the oral board so he said to start asking him questions now. He wouldn't give me any info, but if I asked the question, he would answer it. It was a slow night so I grilled him for about 2 hours 
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Quoted:
Well, I went and took my written and my physical. Video:86.9% Cell counts:100% Report writing:100% Written:96.4% Physical: max score. I don't know at what point they add veterans preference but that will give me an additional 10% to all the scores. Now I am just waiting to hear back from the dept. Next step is the oral board. After that its the polygraph, medical, pshyc and background. The jail here is run by the by the sheriff so you have to go through the same process as the road deputies. In my current job as hospital security I work with A LOT of what the jail rejects because they are "to high" or "to drunk" or "to crazy". But last night a couple of jail deputies brought in an offender and I started to chat with them. turns out one of them is on the oral board so he said to start asking him questions now. He wouldn't give me any info, but if I asked the question, he would answer it. It was a slow night so I grilled him for about 2 hours Sounds like you beat out half the applicants already
Interviews are all about seeing if you're head is on straight. They'll ask you how you'll handle certain situations, why you want to work the jail, etc. Your answer has nothing to do with knowledge of the job and all about having your head screwed on straight. |
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Quoted: When I applied to be a county jailer, I never had an oral interview. It was just an interview with a background investigator. He didn't even ask me too many questions. And this was at a big county jail! Everywhere is different I guess. The jail has its deputies go through the exact same process that the road deputies go through. Written, physical, oral board first. Then you get your 43 page personal history packet and come in for an intake interview where they go over the packet with you. Then you schedule your polygraph. After you pass the poly your background starts and you take your head shrinker test and then medical. IF you pass all that your packet gets sent to a board where they decide who the best candidate(s) is/are.
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| Still haven't heard anything back from the jail yet. But we did have a CO that brought in a real piece of work for some medical issues and I ended up having to assist with the offender. After it was over the CO noticed my name tag and asked if it was my first name or last name. I told him first name. He then stated that there was an internal email that went around asking if anyone knew me. So I take that as a sign of things progressing. |
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If it's what you want OP stick with it, I did and don't regret the decision.
Your story is similar to mine. For me it was a career change/job loss. I got a gig working hospital security. Met several local SO jailers. Got some good information from them and it turns out they both became my JTO's. Now I'm a JTO on the short list for patrol. Like any job there are good guys and 'that guy'. Working a jail is a trip; 'there is a reason they're in jail, they prove it every day'. Just recently I had and still have Harold and Kumar in jail. Last thing they remember is they were in another town and woke up in my jail. Too many xanex will do that. ?? Good luck OP 7mm |
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Quoted:
Not a CO, but have worked quasi corrections assignments as part of my duties. Down here they refer to the cornerstone of corrections operations as "the 3 C's", Care, Custody and Control. Same here. The 3 C's to keep them from doing the 3 F's - Fighting, Fucking, or Fleeing. |
| Don't forget Firm, Fair and Consistent.... CYA, Cover your Actions.... some Bright guy set up a hotline to IA so the inmates can call them. I get a lot of calls on me.... Yes he can do that, why? because you did something you can't do... follow the policies and you are ok |
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Quoted: Ahhh, the good old days. Quoted: Quoted: They just checked to see if I was breathing, GED and a DL used to get you in, I am the only one left from my class Ahhh, the good old days. I hear stuff like this all the time. My best friend has been with a major metro dept. for 16 years. He always tells me how he doesnt envy me trying to get hired in todays climate. He said there is no way half the cops on the force would get hired right now if they had to redo the hiring process today.
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