Loudoun County Sheriff

[DetDep]

Does anyone work for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office? I would love to ask some questions about the standard things (equipment, moral, housing, etc.)

Also, I currently work for an SO in Minnesota. I've heard that in VA Deputies are not afforded the same protections as POs when it comes to job security. I've also heard that some legislation has been proposed to remedy this. Are there any Deps out there that can shed some light on this?

[VA Dutch]

Does anyone work for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office? I would love to ask some questions about the standard things (equipment, morale, housing, etc.)

Good: Wealthy county, nice equipment, big coverage area, nice place to live.

Bad: Extremely expensive to live there (near Leesburg), very fast-growing locality; probably hard to make it on an honest rookie cop's salary.

Also, I currently work for an SO in Minnesota. I've heard that in VA Deputies are not afforded the same protections as POs when it comes to job security. I've also heard that some legislation has been proposed to remedy this. Are there any Deps out there that can shed some light on this?

As a deputy in VA, you pretty much serve at the mercy of the sheriff. This is true whether it is a law enforcement/patrol position or one involving being a baliff or court services deputy. Some departments are a lot more political than others, however. A big county such as Loudoun is likely large enough that a new sheriff wanting to "clean house" is not going to get rid of everybody.

Every county is different, but Loudoun may soon end up forming a police department. I haven't been up there in awhile, but I suppose they are close to 250,000 people by now. Eventually, they may hold a referendum and a vote by their board of supervisors (but this is purely speculation on my part).

Do a Google search on "Loudoun County" and I bet you'll find all of the information you want.

[VA Dutch]

-- UPDATE --


Okay, I have included the links to the Loudoun County web pages. The first one is the county web page, and the second one is for the sheriff's office.

http://www.co.loudoun.va.us/

http://www.loudoun.gov/sheriff/apply.htm

Best of luck to you!! With 435 deputies, they are one large agency.

[Zuke]

Great SO deptment to work for. They carry HK USP .40, take homes, 12 hr shifts, tasers and 1 hour of work out time per shift. Lots of OT and most of the guys I know there love it. Starting salary for rookies is around $40K
Loudoun County has the highest meadian income (around $100K) per house hold in the USA.

FYI In Virginia there are NO unions. Its bad thing and and good thing.

[PSU_Alum]

Lcso

I'm a deputy in Loudoun. I also live in the county. The information in the previous posts is on the mark.

Technically shifts are 11.5 hours. Not everyone has a taser yet. Not everyone has a patrol rifle yet. Take homes are for road deputies and if you live outside the county you park as close as possible to the county line.

Unlike some departments in Virginia, the department hires for both corrections and patrol paths. Meaning you can go directly to the road rather than working in the jail for 1-2 years before applying to the road.

Corrections hiring is getting a little more attention right now because our old jail will not be certified by Virginia department of corrections. Staff for the new jail is below minimum and the sheriff may pull some dep's from the road for temporary duty.

The county just built a new public safety center, containing a substation, in the southern district. Construction is underway on the psc for the eastern district. Middle and West have plots of land but construction hasn't started.

If you aren't Virginia certified, you attend a regional academy located in Loudoun. The academy has trainees from Loudoun, Arlington PD and SO, Alexandria PD and SO, Falls Church PD and SO, Metro Washington Airport Authority, Metro Washington Transit Police, Leesburg PD and Manassas City PD (sorry if I forgot anyone).

If you aren't Virginia certified, you will be certified for both corrections and law enforcement.

Generally moral is good to above average. Cops are like the military and complain about anything they can't control. There is lots of OT available; traffic grant enforcement, civil process, court security and corrections. Lots of training opportunity. If training isn't on your normally scheduled duty day, that is OT as well. Only one hour for each scheduled court (traffic, criminal and juvenile) unless they run longer.

Any other questions, let me know

[ARU053]

If your lucky you can qualify for the first time home buyers program that the county offers, however I think our starting pay might be too high to qualify. Loudoun County S/O is also the largest full service Sheriff's Office in Virginia. With Patrol, Corrections, and Court Security as the "starting positions" then the possibility to move onto Investigations, Traffic, CSI, and other specialty areas. Training is outstanding with minimum required hours set by the State.

[DetDep]

Well... I'm doing my first ride-along with LCSO this Sunday. Unfortunately, due to time constraints on my trip, I am doing a day shift. At least around here, Sunday days are pretty slow. Though I guess this will give me a good chance to really see what the county is like.

[Arewethereyet]

yeah, i mean it doesn't get all that exciting in Loudoun County. a lot of the citizens complain against deputies for the smallest thing (speeding, not stopping fully at a stop sign, etc) or at least that's what one of the deputies told me when i went on a ride along last year. it also depends on where in loudoun county you go on the ride along as well. if you're in sterling, you'll probably encounter a lot of "juan doe's", but loudoun county is a great place, and it's also very scenic since it hasn't fully developed yet like fairfax county. let us know how it goes buddy!

[OakRidgeDude]

Moving into the area myself from NC... any word on reserve positions with the LCSO? I know Fairfax has Aux positions, but have read good things about LCSO.

[PSU_Alum]

Reserve vs Aux @LCSO

Moving into the area myself from NC... any word on reserve positions with the LCSO? I know Fairfax has Aux positions, but have read good things about LCSO.

By "reserve" do you mean a trained, certified and sworn deputy who works part time or on an as needed basis? We don't have a reserve program.

We do have auxillaries who help at planned events. They also get an occasioinal call-out to assist with traffic control at accidents. We also have a couple of auxillaries who move SMART trailers and pnuemetric pads around the county.

[OakRidgeDude]

Thanks for the info PSU.. I did mean reserves. I will be employed FT in another field but would like to get as much experience in LE as I can - so that when I make a switch, I would be a bit "ahead of the game".

Again, thanks for your help.

[hilhil45]

Relocation

Where do the majority of Deputies who work for Loudon live? It seems the real-estate and cost-of-living is so high in most of NoVa that a new Deputy would have to live several counties away.

[Arewethereyet]

I used to live in Camden of Lansdowne and they might have a deal with the deputies that live there to show police presence in the neighborhood. This is complete speculation though, you should consider it if they do have something like that because Camden is really nice.

[PSU_Alum]

Camden Apartments

I used to live in Camden of Lansdowne and they might have a deal with the deputies that live there to show police presence in the neighborhood. This is complete speculation though, you should consider it if they do have something like that because Camden is really nice.

If you lived in Camden Lansdowne within the last three years, you had 3 LCSO deputies and a Loudoun Firemarshal as neighbors; also 2 VASP, a couple or FFX and couple of feds. The Camden chain of apartments (Camden Lansdowne, Camden Westwind and one off Caiborne Prkwy in Ashburn) give a discount to law enforcement.

Other apartment complexes have a courtesy officer program. If you have a take home, you park it in the lot and you get greatly reduced or free rent. Two downsides are that the apartment complexes are generally Turd-villes and the management expects you to handle minor issues.

The county also has a program for home buyers. With new home sales and prices coming down, I suspect it is easier to get into this program. I don't know much about the program as I didn't qualify and bought my house on my own. You can check with ARU053 but I'm not sure if he bought his house under the program either.

As far as where everyone lives, the short answer is: it varies by what people are looking for. Berryville has a lot of deputies, but it is just outside the county (no takehome unless you are in a specialty unit/CID). Recently people have been buying in West Virginia. It's close, cheaper than Loudoun and you get can get a bigger lot for the same or lower price (see note about Berryville).

Within the county, the Dulles South area has alot of building going on (Stone Ridge, South Riding, Brambleton and Aldie). Builders need to move their inventory and most seem to have some sort of "hometown heros" program.

If you have any other questions, let me know

[DetDep]

Just an update for those interested. Loudoun currently has "more applicants than actual or projected vacancies." My letter said to call back in Jan if I was still interested. When I talked to the Investigator he said they have no idea what hiring will look like for the next fiscal year.