Local law enforcement need more officers

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is trying to put more deputies on the streets to protect and serve. However, that’s a tall order even with many people still looking for jobs and careers in the Inland Empire.

Because the department is so large, they are always hiring. With the new jail coming, Riverside County’s increasing population and deputies retiring, local law enforcement agencies need more people to join their ranks.

“We are looking for someone who is looking for more than just a job. We want someone who is looking for a career, who is looking to be able to make a difference in their community,” said Riverside County Sheriff Sgt. Robert Pickowitz.

It is hiring deputies, correctional sheriffs, dispatchers, accounting staff and even food service workers.

“The county has grown so much and the expansion in the department both in corrections and with the corrections with staffing levels, our goals is to be able to maintain the same pace,” said Pickowitz.

It’s not just the Sheriff’s Department, the Indio Police Department is also hiring. There are three positions are open right now.

“We lose a couple people a year through attrition, retirement, or they move out of the area. We always have job openings. We are always constantly recruiting,” said Indio police Sgt. Dan Marshall.

Palm Springs police has over a dozen openings for officers and a half a dozen for police dispatchers.

So why are there so many openings?

“During the recession, a lot of places went through hiring freezes and got their numbers down very low. Well now, everyone is doing much better, and there is more money there, and people are trying to get back to the levels they were at prior to the recession,” said Marshall.

It’s also not a quick hiring process.

“From the time they apply to the time they graduate from the academy, you could be looking at an 18-month window,” said Pickowitz.

“Usually, you will have an oral interview, a background interview, a lie detector test. The person has to have a psychological evaluation,” said Marshall.

Indio police says they lose about 50 percent of applicants during the background check. So far, recent high profile officer-involved shootings around the country haven’t seemed to deter people from wanting to sign up.

“Eighty percent of the number of applicants have wanted to be a police officers since first grade,” said Marshall. “The people who have had that calling early in life, it has not deterred them.”

Another challenge for smaller agencies like Indio and Palm Springs is most of their hires are people who have to have already gone through the academy.

For more information about the Riverside Sheriff’s Department, click here.

For more information about the Indio Police Department, click here.

For more information about the Palm Springs Police Department, click here.