(higher) standard to enter the state mandated academy. Because the CPO refuses to use the state standard, there is a burden placed on the sheriff’s office to ensure that new employees can get into the academy. The Training Coordinator for the sheriff’s office must set up time for the new employee to practice or train specifically for the academy test. This adds time to the entire training process, thus delaying the time it takes to get the deputy trained and out in the field. Also, if the employee cannot meet the academy standard, then the employee goes through remedial training and is given 2 more attempts to pass the FAT. If the employee fails the third attempt, the employee is terminated. In the mean time, the sheriff’s office has used a large amount of man-hours and other expenses conducting background investigations and the other examinations in the hiring process, as well as training the person for the FAT. These funds come from the sheriff’s office budget, not the CPO budget. Though it doesn’t happen often where an employee is terminated for failure to meet the academy standard, it does happen enough and has a very real impact on the sheriff’s office.Recommendations: A package has been put together by the sheriff’s office training coordinator to submit to the CPO explaining in detail what the academy FAT is and how it evaluates an applicants physical abilities. In this package is a proposal that the CPO continue to proctor the written examination. Being the sheriff’s office personnel are very familiar with the academy test, the sheriff’s office will then conduct the physical agility test on applicants, using the same FAT that the academy uses. A member of the CPO could be on scene as an observer. Under this process, the CPO can ensure that proper hiring practices are maintained while allowing the resident experts to conduct and evaluate the physical agility portio...
