Yavapai County Detention Officers (Prescott, Prescott Valley: health insurance, job, health)

[dogbizkit]

Hi, all I am new I am looking to find anyone employed with the dept. I am starting the hiring process and trying to research the dept and the county etc. What to expect the testing etc. So if you have any helpful info or I can pick you brain with questions as to what to expect etc. Please let me know.

[esselcue]

I have worked for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office for 19 years (retiring in January ) and I started in Detention many years ago. Working in Detention is not for everyone...it involves being "locked up" with every sort of person on the earth...even the Charles Mansons, the Ted Bundys, the Jeffrey Dahmers, were in jails before they were sent to prison so Detention Officers (not guards!) face a day to day challenge of dealing with the mental games and maipulations of criminals. You must be a person who is patient, who can follow the rules and who knows how to avoid mind-games.

That being said, I loved the job and I think it is interesting and rewarding. There is a lot of room for advancement in Detention, as opposed to patrol deputies, and the benefits (retirement, health insurance, etc) are very good, especially when you consider that no college degree is required, not even a high school diploma, (GED is required). Within the next three or four years there will be a HUGE new jail in Prescott, which is needed and will make it more feasible for employees to afford to drive to work. Right now most of the hiring is done for the Camp Verde facility and unless you live over in the Cottonwood-Verde area it is a long, costly drive.

The people who work in the jails are a close-knit group of very good folks. If a person does not "fit" within the law enforcement realm, they usually do not stay long. It's a case of watching each other's back and supporting each other when need be. It's a good job...with mainly good people. The current Sheriff is not well-liked, don't know what the election in November will bring, but fortunately the Sheriff does not play a large part in detention. He should...but he doesn't.

Good luck to you!!!!

[dogbizkit]

Thanks, they said they were hiring for prescott. I have worked in the medical field since I was 18 and then started at the meadows five years ago. Two years ago I transfered to the security dept helping patients with fitness but last year I went all the way over to security. I love it, so I took an online security/police sciences course to learn more about the career. I decided on corrections over patrol mostly because my husband and I have small kids and the thought of me out there truthfully was a little scary to both of us.

I thought I read somewhere though the DO academy they have is live in only for the eight weeks?? Once hired could they just assign me to camp verde instead of prescott even though I am trying to hire for prescott?

And thanks for answering my questions I really appreciate it.

[esselcue]

The DO Academy is 8 weeks and is held in the Camp Verde facility. I actually teach a few of the courses there. The county can put you wherever they want to put you, unfortunately, so until the new big jail is built over here on the Prescott side it's sort of a crap shoot, although they do TRY to place the Prescott residents in the Prescott jail when possible. Also, many of the Verde DO's are carpooling now, so it saves a lot. If you live in the Dewey or Mayer area the distance between the facilities is about the same, actually. I happen to live in Chino Valley so it's a long haul for me when I have to treck over to Verde...which is not too often.

[esselcue]

Detention is a great job for a woman!!! It involves brain more than brawn and women excell in it and seem to advance quickly. I highly recommend it for gals!

[dogbizkit]

Thanks for the info! We currently live in wickenburg, I test on the 26th of july. My current dept is made of of nine officers all retired with 20 plus years. We have all walks, my CO is mcso and swat retired and we have two ex-phx pd, other county guys and a local wickenburg guy. They are all hounding me to go apply, took two years to get the nerve though. LOL but they said it's not that different than what I do now except they are not paying customers. LOL

I do really appreciate the help, there is hardly any info out there about preparing for your testing and I hate going into stuff blind. The recruitment videos I found on COTA were no help as the majority of the videos all the DO's were laughing and joking and being buddies with all the inmates *rolls eyes* it was so sugar coated my teeth hurt. LOL

I am 27 now and hopefully can make a good career out of it.

[snicklefritz1]

Detention is a great career. It's what you make of it.

[esselcue]

I am chuckling at the "inmates as buddies" thing!. That's called manipulation. But...one of the things I teach in the DO Academy is that we all are different with different personalities and to be successful in Detention is to use your own personality to control the situation at hand. For me, I am a smallish woman and no threat to a big, burley gang-banger, so I always used humor and cajoled them into doing what I wanted them to do. Worked great for me...never had an"incident" with an inmate.

Detention is a wonderful career for a woman. Advancement can come quickly if one simply does one's job and is willing to watch, learn and laugh at the absurdity of some of it. Good luck to you! Are you testing for Yavapai County or Maricopa?

[Gretchen B]

Originally Posted by esselcue

The DO Academy is 8 weeks and is held in the Camp Verde facility. I actually teach a few of the courses there. The county can put you wherever they want to put you, unfortunately, so until the new big jail is built over here on the Prescott side it's sort of a crap shoot, although they do TRY to place the Prescott residents in the Prescott jail when possible. Also, many of the Verde DO's are carpooling now, so it saves a lot. If you live in the Dewey or Mayer area the distance between the facilities is about the same, actually. I happen to live in Chino Valley so it's a long haul for me when I have to treck over to Verde...which is not too often.

Just a quick comment about the drive to Camp Verde. I live in the Dewey area near Fain Road. It only takes about 20 minutes to Camp Verde from where I live. I would think the worst part of the drive would be the I-17 "hill" south of Camp Verde when you come home. It seems like traffic is always crazy on that.

I drive into Prescott most days for my work. It takes me longer (about 30-35 min) to get into downtown Prescott than it does to get to Camp Verde.

[esselcue]

Ha, Gretchen, you must be flying!!! (Kidding!) It is 15 miles from the Cherry road (in Dewey)to I-17 and then another nine miles to the Verde Valley and highway 360, which is then another 5/6 miles to the jail facility. From Prescott to the Verde jail is a one hour drive anyway you cut it...so from Dewey I'd say about half of that...30 mins. It's about the halfway mark. A lot of DO's live in the Prescott Valley area....it's certainly doable time-wise, it's the mileage and gas costs that are detrimental.