Thread: 1,750 apply for 75 of Sheriff Joe's jobs

Tough times yield more high-quality recruits for detention-officer jobs

by JJ Hensley -
Jan. 10, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic .

It's a recession-driven phenomenon that law-enforcement agencies have become accustomed to when positions come up: thousands of candidates applying for what may be dozens of jobs.

For the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, that meant 1,750 people applying this year for 75 detention-officer positions and a more diverse and desirable pool of candidates to draw from.

"In the past, a lot of people wouldn't dress up for an orientation or an interview," said Lt. Mark Myers, commander of the pre-employment services division. "This time, most of the people who came really wanted to sell themselves. It actually made it a little tough because these individuals all came in, and you had a lot of good-looking, educated, quality people with a lot of job history and qualifications to pull from."
The flood of applicants also represents an about-face when it comes to hiring for positions that are typically among the agency's most difficult to fill.

The reasons are simple: Turnover is high, making the job a stepping-stone to other law-enforcement positions or different careers. The job is occasionally dangerous and frequently thankless. And it's traditionally been one of the lowest-paid positions in law enforcement, though efforts from county and sheriff's administrators have brought pay - about $17 per hour - in line with comparable jobs.

But the deepest economic downturn in decades is enough to make many potential candidates overlook those drawbacks.

"I just came from Mexico last year and it was really hard for me to get a job in different places," said Sonia Salloum, a 40-year-old mother. "Nobody wants to hire people who don't have some kind of background here."

Salloum has a business-administration degree and worked in an office in Morelos, Mexico, before immigrating to the United States after she married her husband, an American citizen. After a year of job hunting, Salloum heard from a friend that the Sheriff's Office might be hiring.

Myers said word-of-mouth advertising is where many recruits get their information, which proved to be particularly useful this year because the agency couldn't afford to advertise the open positions.

Salloum said Arpaio's reputation among some as a zealot was not a deterrent. "When I came here, I heard from different people talking about Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and they were talking about how mean he is," she said. "I think he's not mean. I think that if you are legal here, you're going to have all the opportunities for all the other people."

Arpaio's notoriety drew another unlikely candidate to the detention officers' training academy. Chris Hegstrom, 35, spent 15 years in the media business, most recently as a television newsman in Amarillo, Texas, where Arpaio's reputation has found fans.

"Is there anybody in the country who has not heard of Sheriff Joe Arpaio?" Hegstrom said. "When I heard about this (job), there was absolutely a lot of hope. Did I want to get back into the pressures of the daily, hourly deadlines in the media? Maybe this is a turning point in my life to make a change."

Arpaio said many officer candidates are at the same crossroads.

Like all the detention officers who graduate from the academy in early February, Hegstrom will start out working through a five-week rotation of jails before putting in for a permanent assignment at one of the six facilities the Sheriff's Office operates in Maricopa County.

Hegstrom's first choices are the Central Intake Division because of the action or Durango Jail for the open-air environment. Salloum doesn't care as long as it's the first shift, so she can spend time with her husband and 9-year-old daughter.

Wherever the candidates end up, Arpaio wants Hegstrom, Salloum and the others who complete the program to stick around for a while. "The danger is, when the economy improves, are they going to quit and go back to other professions?" Arpaio said. "I hope that when we do hire people, they don't do it just to put food on the table but because they want a career and want to stick with it."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... s0110.html

Salloum said Arpaio's reputation among some as a zealot was not a deterrent. "When I came here, I heard from different people talking about Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and they were talking about how mean he is," she said. "I think he's not mean. I think that if you are legal here, you're going to have all the opportunities for all the other people."

EXACTLY!! Thank you Ms. Salloum!