LASD Questions

[fermosa]

I'm a DST applicant scheduled to graduate the academy in November and I had some questions to any Deputy Sheriff's who would be willing to take the time out to answer me:

1.) What's the typical work schedule like in corrections?
2.) Are their correctional facilitites that are better to work in than others?
3.) Are their certain correctional facilities/patrol stations/duty assignments that will put you on the "fast track" (advancement) for the department?
4.) When I get out of the military I'll have 10 years of active duty service. Can any of these years be counted for retirement for L.A. county?
5.) What's the take home pay for a typical Deputy Sheriff coming out of the academy working in corrections with/without overtime?
6.) How would you state the current morale is for Deputy Sheriff's working in corrections (low, medium, high)? What would be the biggest problem?
7.) Do Deputy Sheriff's get any preferential treatment such as getting a preferred patrol station and getting out of corrections faster, based on people they may know in the organization? If this is true, does this happen frequently?

Thanks.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Okay, I'll give it my best shot even though I lateralled out of the agency some years ago.
I'm a DST applicant scheduled to graduate the academy in November and I had some questions to any Deputy Sheriff's who would be willing to take the time out to answer me:

1.) What's the typical work schedule like in corrections?

Varies by facility.

2.) Are their correctional facilitites that are better to work in than others?

Depends on how you define better. Newer? Morale? Supervision? Level of inmates? Down time?

3.) Are their certain correctional facilities/patrol stations/duty assignments that will put you on the "fast track" (advancement) for the department?

While all jail time is just jail time and will be considered as meaningful in your professional life as your high school gpa is after you graduate college, I humbly believe that IRC provides you the opportunity to best prepare yourself for patrol. At IRC you deal with ALL levels of inmates, including Hi Powers, transgendered, male, female, celebrity, mafia, etc. *EVERY*one comes and goes through IRC. Also, IRC can help familiarize yourself with booking packages, inmate medical questionnaires, PCDs, etc.

4.) When I get out of the military I'll have 10 years of active duty service. Can any of these years be counted for retirement for L.A. county?

No, but I think you can buy them back at which time they can add to your available years of service.

5.) What's the take home pay for a typical Deputy Sheriff coming out of the academy working in corrections with/without overtime?

Couldn't tell you, has been too many years.

6.) How would you state the current morale is for Deputy Sheriff's working in corrections (low, medium, high)? What would be the biggest problem?

See # 5.

7.) Do Deputy Sheriff's get any preferential treatment such as getting a preferred patrol station and getting out of corrections faster, based on people they may know in the organization? If this is true, does this happen frequently?

Doesn't this happen in EVERY organization? Fortunately, LASD is better than some others at insulating the line level from the affects of politics. By and large, in LASD, your individually earned and deserved reputation for common sense, job knowledge and skills, operator ability, and officer safety are more important than anything else in most cases.

Thanks.
You're welcome.

[Five-0fromSoCal]

I'll try and answer what ElD couldn't.

5.) What's the take home pay for a typical Deputy Sheriff coming out of the academy working in corrections with/without overtime?

Deps out of the academy are doing really well. They work alot of o/t. Every Dep is a little different depending how much o/t they want. From the few Deps I've talked to while working o/t in custody, they've made between 60k-80k their first year. Some alot more. Thats first step Deputies.

6.) How would you state the current morale is for Deputy Sheriff's working in corrections (low, medium, high)? What would be the biggest problem?


Morale has gotten alot better with the new contract and Deps not working as long in custody right now. Every dept will have its ups and downs with morale. This current contract will end after the last raise (August 08). So obviously we'll be up for a new contract in just over a year. Doubt that it will be as nice as the one we just got. Hopefully something to keep all the new Deps that are graduating.

[fermosa]

Five-0fromSoCal...

Thanks for the detailed response.