Professional Standards & Training
Personnel & Backgrounds
The Personnel and Backgrounds Unit is the
gateway to joining the El Dorado County
Sheriff’s Office. The three investigators and one
sergeant stay busy throughout the year
conducting background investigations on
candidates for every position with the Sheriff’s
Office. This year, over 1,000 job applications
were submitted to the Sheriff's Office. After
completing the recruitment and background
process, 40 new employees were selected to join
the Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff continues to promote internally to
sponsor current employees through the POST
Basic Law Enforcement Academy and fill Deputy
Sheriff vacancies; this year promoting six
current employees to Deputy Sheriff I. With this
in mind, the Personnel and Backgrounds Unit
increased the number of entry level
recruitments for positions such as Correctional
Officer, giving more people the opportunity to
join the Sheriff's Office.
All potential employees undergo a lengthy
background investigation and pre-hire process,
lasting from four months to a year from
application to date of hire. Once the
investigation is complete, the file is sent through
the chain of command for approval. The Sheriff
then meets with each candidate. Since 2011, the
Sheriff has met one-on-one with every new
employee hired. The hiring process is complete
after a medical and for some positions, a
psychological clearance.
The Professional Standards and Training unit conducts investigations when an employee’s actions have been questioned and provides follow up training if found necessary. The unit is tasked with providing the best training possible for Sheriff’s Office employees and to ensure professional conduct is maintained. Errors made by an employee will happen, but it is important to recognize Officers and Deputies are human and a mistake will also identify training opportunities to prevent reoccurrence.
Investigations conducted by the Professional
Standards Unit include Service Complaints and
Internal Affairs investigations. Service
complaints are formal complaints initiated by
citizens due to an officer’s actions. Internal
affairs investigations occur when a policy
violation has been discovered by someone
within the Sheriff’s Office. Both investigations
warrant a complete investigation on the actions
alleged and a finding is made.
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office holds all
employee’s to high standards of professionalism
and leadership. Many times a training need is
identified through an investigation, whether an
employee's actions are within policy or not.
The Training Unit is one of the main tenants of the Sheriff’s Vision ‘Total professionalism, through training and by example.’ Law enforcement officers in California are some of the best trained and educated officers in the nation. The Professional Standards and Training Unit keeps El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office employees up to date on all trainings, often far surpassing state requirements. Providing outside training opportunities to sworn and non-sworn employees allows the employees to learn from other agencies and bring back successful tactics to the Sheriff’s Office.
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