Some Detention Workers Fail Screening to Work at Sheriff's O

Some Detention Workers Fail Screening to Work at Sheriff's Office
BARTOW | When Sheriff Grady Judd announced his intent to move juvenile defendants into the county jail by this fall, the livelihoods of 73 state employees were put at risk.

His decision came after Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, at Judd's urging, successfully backed legislation that allowed any county that could meet certain standards to take control of its own juvenile detention.

Polk County used to pay the state each year to handle the responsibility. Judd has argued it saves local taxpayers money to house them at the jail.

In an Oct. 14 letter to center workers, the state Department of Juvenile Justice said Polk County had made the decision to take over the housing of juvenile defendants. The workers were told they would be laid off but could transfer to other *facilities if openings were available.

The state shuttered the Polk Regional Juvenile Detention Center Oct. 27.

But before it closed, sheriff representatives visited the center with applications in hand, urging workers to apply. Judd gave them priority over other applicants and said he would hire anyone who could pass his agency's hiring process.

Forty-two accepted Judd's offer.

Of those, only nine have been approved for hire and one application is still pending.

Here's what the Sheriff's Office says kept the rest from getting through the hiring process:

Eleven did not pass a polygraph exam. The process involves a lengthy yes-or-no questionnaire and an interview based on the questions while hooked to a lie detector.

Six did not meet the agency's general order standards, which set guidelines for several things including tattoos and past illegal drug use.

Four did not pass a background check, which could mean their criminal history disqualifies them or information they gave on applications turned out to be false or inaccurate.

One failed a psychological examination required for hire.

Ten withdrew their applications.

Tommy Kirkland, who worked 14 years at the detention center and reached the rank of supervisor, was turned down by the Sheriff's Office. He understands why Judd has a tough hiring process. But he said the rejection left him and other applicants with a question: If they're good enough to work for the state, why not the county?

Kirkland, 43, who now drives an hour and a half to work for a state detention center in Manatee County, thinks Judd never intended to hire as many state workers as he promised.

"It was a lot of lip service," he said.

The virtual gauntlet of exams Judd requires is difficult, but he said he thought the workers would pass it with ease. While they could have been good employees, Judd said, the tests — namely the polygraph — turned up past behavior that raised concerns.

"We know clearly that past conduct is an indicator of future behavior," he said.

‘MODEL OFFICER'

Michael Davis thought he had all the experience he needed to join the Sheriff's Office, and more. He grew up in West Virginia with dreams of joining the military. He served eight years in the U.S. Army and toured Iraq as a combat engineer.

After moving to Florida to be closer to his three children, he joined the state detention center in Bartow in 2008. He worked as a senior detention officer, working face to face with young inmates. He felt as if he had found his calling.

"I had a lot to bring to the organization," said Davis, 32. "I knew I would be a model officer."

The polygraph stopped Davis. He approached it as an "honesty test," he said. "If I don't hide anything," he remembered thinking, "I have nothing to worry about." He admitted to trying marijuana as a teenager and, on one occasion, passing a small amount of it from one friend to another.

During his polygraph, Kirkland admitted to stealing packs of chewing tobacco as a teenager. He said the small indiscretion kept him from getting hired.

"Everybody has done something they shouldn't have."

THE POLYGRAPH

Citing an exemption to the public records law, the Sheriff's Office declined to provide details about the polygraph results of Kirkland, Davis and other laid-off DJJ employees who applied. But its reasons for rejecting Kirkland and Davis differed from the reasons the men told The Ledger, said Donna Parker, the sheriff's human resources director.

Sheriff's officials offered to allow Kirkland and Davis, who have now found other jobs, to view their polygraph results at the Sheriff's Office with a Ledger reporter, which neither of them wanted to do.

Without giving names, the Sheriff's Office provided some general background information it turned up that stopped many of the state detention employees from being hired.

One admitted to giving drugs to a friend while in the military and using cocaine as recently as 2005, according to the agency. One admitted to stealing and committing credit card fraud. Another had been fired three times from past jobs.

Not everything an applicant admits to on a polygraph — even smoking marijuana as a teenager — will keep him from getting hired, Parker said. But if their admission is a violation of the agency's general order standards, it will.

"It's amazing what they admit to when you hook them up to a polygraph," she said.

‘ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED'

The polygraph is only one test Sheriff's Office applicants face. The process includes a psychological exam, a drug screen and a background check, among other tests. Sheriff's employees might canvas your old neighborhood to get a sense of what your neighbors think of you.

The state's Department of Juvenile Justice also requires a background check, a drug screen and fingerprinting. A polygraph, however, isn't part of the process.

But any suggestion that the state's hiring process isn't thorough is not accurate, said Rick Bedson, a DJJ regional director. Applicants go through background checks at the agency's headquarters and regional offices. New hires are also tracked during a year-long probationary period.

"We try to hire people with a level of integrity that we can all be proud of," Bedson said.

Judd called the polygraph a "fundamental" part of his hiring process. Someone can perform well in other areas, but if the polygraph shows he is being untruthful, it can eliminate him as an applicant.

"If you're not going to be honest with us through the employment process," he said, "we have no reason to believe you're going to be honest when you come to work here."

Judd said what his agency found out about the state employees "absolutely shocked" him.

"We operate under a tremendous amount of public and legal scrutiny, as we should," Judd said. "That's why the hiring standards are as they are."

"It's not a perfect world and we hire from the human race," Judd said. But "we're not going to hire people where there's a past history of conduct which is indicative of future behavior. We owe it to the community we serve."

The Sheriff's Office has about 17 detention workers overseeing juvenile inmates. Michael Davis wanted to be one of them. Writing a letter to Judd asking for reconsideration proved fruitless.

For the time being, Davis gives driver license exams for the Department of Motor Vehicles in Sebring, his pride intact.

"I know what type of person I am," he said.
From TheLedger.com