SOT Training

[Average Joe]

Saw on the news yesterday that the HCSO held a "career orientation". Said that they are looking for 300 new deputies....

8 years ago HCSO was down 200 deputies. Now that number has grown to 300, or so you have posted. Unless they start hiring pre-certs and forgo the academy, they will never catch up.

Well sir, Im taking the PAA this Friday. I will do my best to chip away at that number!

Good luck to you

HCSO has their problems just like any other employer, but it is a great place to work.

[quote=Average Joe]

Saw on the news yesterday that the HCSO held a "career orientation". Said that they are looking for 300 new deputies....

8 years ago HCSO was down 200 deputies. Now that number has grown to 300, or so you have posted. Unless they start hiring pre-certs and forgo the academy, they will never catch up.

Well sir, Im taking the PAA this Friday. I will do my best to chip away at that number!

Good luck to you

HCSO has their problems just like any other employer, but it is a great place to work.[/quote:3dzf96oh]

Thank you! 8) I'll let you know how I do.... Agreed on the employer. If there was a perfect job where there are no problems, everybody and their Mother, would want to work there... :lol:

[youtube:2e21khuq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GegQ9iQ7xgI[/youtube:2e21khuq]

Here's how you cut out spending all of this time and money for SOT:

1. Hire military veterans who have already been through basic.

2. Hire experienced law enforcement officers who already have proven records.

3. Quit emphasizing muscle strength. No matter how much you train, there will always be someone bigger, stronger, more agile and more skillful at fighting than your best officer. Spend more training time on verbal techniques for defusing tense situations and train for more effective use of less lethal and lethal weapons on non-compliant subjects.

It's time to quit playing soldier. Law enforcement is a quasi-military organization. That is because we use a similar rank structure and we carry firearms. We are not the real military and we don't need to try to make our people into SuperSoldiers.

Went to the Career Expo and they did a nice job with it but when I was asked if I would start with the process for the road they caught an attitude (even the Major) when I said no. I'm a former Marine, dual certified with over ten years of service on the road and five in detention. I understand and accept the S.O.T. training aspect of your department but I am not interested in doing the academy again when it is not necessary. I was fine with it but they tried to make me feel bad thinking I couldn't do the training. Really?? No wonder why you are in the staffing situation you are in. Just remember you are not training Marines and looking around at alot of your staff, I have to wonder how many could or would do the S.O.T. training to keep their jobs. It looks like you have a decent agency....maybe they need to take a look at how they are recruiting. Taking my certifications and LEO experience down the road....

Went to the Career Expo and they did a nice job with it but when I was asked if I would start with the process for the road they caught an attitude (even the Major) when I said no. I'm a former Marine, dual certified with over ten years of service on the road and five in detention. I understand and accept the S.O.T. training aspect of your department but I am not interested in doing the academy again when it is not necessary. I was fine with it but they tried to make me feel bad thinking I couldn't do the training. Really?? No wonder why you are in the staffing situation you are in. Just remember you are not training Marines and looking around at alot of your staff, I have to wonder how many could or would do the S.O.T. training to keep their jobs. It looks like you have a decent agency....maybe they need to take a look at how they are recruiting. Taking my certifications and LEO experience down the road....

don't blame you a bit. Now imagine actually working for these same people everyday, but being treated much worse from the top on down! There are incredible large ego's that start at the top and linger all the way to the bottom. Even many of the rookies now being hired seem to think that they are somehow to cool & smart for the past generation of true cops. It will literally make you sick to your stomach to see the arrogance being displayed by so many now at HCSO. These same people have absolutely no clue what working together as a team means or connecting as a true loyal brotherhood with one another. This mentality has been forever lost by the quickly exiting old schoolers, who have found themselves being treated like scum. Long gone are the days when effecting a quality arrest or solving a ongoing crime problem meant something to the deputy or the office. This present command staff has spent so much time clouding the waters with mountains of B.S. and playing micro-manager over every little thing, that meaningful police work or anything remotely related goes completely unnoticed or cared about, unless one is of course politically connected. Working at HCSO these days makes you feel as though you need to look hard for the battery packs that surely must run the robot like individuals working all around you, monitoring your every movement, just looking for the chance to stab you in the back in order to try and make a cowardly name for themselves. So unless you would enjoy working in such a environment, you definately made the right move by heading on down the road. Goodluck my friend and consider yourself fortunate not to have got involved with this presnt day train wreck of a agency.

[Average Joe]

Went to the Career Expo and they did a nice job with it but when I was asked if I would start with the process for the road they caught an attitude (even the Major) when I said no. I'm a former Marine, dual certified with over ten years of service on the road and five in detention. I understand and accept the S.O.T. training aspect of your department but I am not interested in doing the academy again when it is not necessary. I was fine with it but they tried to make me feel bad thinking I couldn't do the training. Really?? No wonder why you are in the staffing situation you are in. Just remember you are not training Marines and looking around at alot of your staff, I have to wonder how many could or would do the S.O.T. training to keep their jobs. It looks like you have a decent agency....maybe they need to take a look at how they are recruiting. Taking my certifications and LEO experience down the road....

don't blame you a bit. Now imagine actually working for these same people everyday, but being treated much worse from the top on down! There are incredible large ego's that start at the top and linger all the way to the bottom. Even many of the rookies now being hired seem to think that they are somehow to cool & smart for the past generation of true cops. It will literally make you sick to your stomach to see the arrogance being displayed by so many now at HCSO. These same people have absolutely no clue what working together as a team means or connecting as a true loyal brotherhood with one another. This mentality has been forever lost by the quickly exiting old schoolers, who have found themselves being treated like scum. Long gone are the days when effecting a quality arrest or solving a ongoing crime problem meant something to the deputy or the office. This present command staff has spent so much time clouding the waters with mountains of B.S. and playing micro-manager over every little thing, that meaningful police work or anything remotely related goes completely unnoticed or cared about, unless one is of course politically connected. Working at HCSO these days makes you feel as though you need to look hard for the battery packs that surely must run the robot like individuals working all around you, monitoring your every movement, just looking for the chance to stab you in the back in order to try and make a cowardly name for themselves. So unless you would enjoy working in such a environment, you definately made the right move by heading on down the road. Goodluck my friend and consider yourself fortunate not to have got involved with this presnt day train wreck of a agency.

Hahahahahaha that is a good one. You could look at any generation at HCSO and your words fit. Truth is that those that grumble are the ones that were left behind and out of the chosen inner circle. It happens no matter where you go as the same thing can be said about any agency. Don't believe me? Go look at the other agencies on this board. If you were to believe them we would have no one applying for these jobs.

Fact is if you can't keep your mouth shut and do the job you were hired to do then WE DON'T WANT YOU.

In all my years I could had cared less about the brass and the SOP's they wrote. I did my job as if it was always my signature and provided the citizens with what they deserved. I didn't care if the were from Avila or Ruskin. I collected a nice check and I am living a very nice retirement.

If you can do the same and swollow your pride I would apply. If not look elsewhere but I can tell you many agencies in the area have pretty much the same policy minus the SOT.

For those that don't know. Our SOT instructors are led by a former marine who is now a law enforcement deputy. He was a black belt drill instructor at Parris Island. Most of the SOT instructors are former military and are put through a rigorous class by the head instructor himself, who used to train DI's in the military. There are both detention and law enforcement deputies involved as they instruct both law enforcement and detention SOT's. it is not a necessary thing for an agency to "puke"out their trainees, however, the purpose of SOT is to train the new hires the foundation of teamwork and bonding. They work together to complete tasks. It is devised to weed out the people that only see this as a job and not a career and aren't dedicated. And it works. SOT loses 3-4 every class that aren't prepared and don't want it bad enough. If you have questions and concerns or extra comments, feel free to reach out to the training major. I'm sure he will invite you out to the range on a SOT start day to observe exactly what happens and what is said to the recruits. Anyone who was in the military will tell you it's similar to boot camp, but not the same. It's not a boot camp. It's modeled after one. Every one of our military hires do extremely well out there.

Went to the Career Expo and they did a nice job with it but when I was asked if I would start with the process for the road they caught an attitude (even the Major) when I said no. I'm a former Marine, dual certified with over ten years of service on the road and five in detention. I understand and accept the S.O.T. training aspect of your department but I am not interested in doing the academy again when it is not necessary. I was fine with it but they tried to make me feel bad thinking I couldn't do the training. Really?? No wonder why you are in the staffing situation you are in. Just remember you are not training Marines and looking around at alot of your staff, I have to wonder how many could or would do the S.O.T. training to keep their jobs. It looks like you have a decent agency....maybe they need to take a look at how they are recruiting. Taking my certifications and LEO experience down the road....

There are several reasons we don't hire pre-certs without going thru our academy. If you're a rising star at your agency with ten years on, clearly you're an asset. Why did you leave in the first place? You have the ego, arrogance and attitude of a ten year zone deputy and that's why they choose not to hire pre-certs. If you're a star at your agency, you don't want to leave. You showed your character just now by telling us how great and experienced you are and what an asset you'd be and then insulted our deputies fitness and appearance. Our agency isn't decent. it's the 7th largest agency in the nation and holds the two highest accreditation standards that exist. If you were that great, you wouldnt be at a job fair. Please do take your vast experience and ego somewhere else.

Went to the Career Expo and they did a nice job with it but when I was asked if I would start with the process for the road they caught an attitude (even the Major) when I said no. I'm a former Marine, dual certified with over ten years of service on the road and five in detention. I understand and accept the S.O.T. training aspect of your department but I am not interested in doing the academy again when it is not necessary. I was fine with it but they tried to make me feel bad thinking I couldn't do the training. Really?? No wonder why you are in the staffing situation you are in. Just remember you are not training Marines and looking around at alot of your staff, I have to wonder how many could or would do the S.O.T. training to keep their jobs. It looks like you have a decent agency....maybe they need to take a look at how they are recruiting. Taking my certifications and LEO experience down the road....

There are several reasons we don't hire pre-certs without going thru our academy. If you're a rising star at your agency with ten years on, clearly you're an asset. Why did you leave in the first place? You have the ego, arrogance and attitude of a ten year zone deputy and that's why they choose not to hire pre-certs. If you're a star at your agency, you don't want to leave. You showed your character just now by telling us how great and experienced you are and what an asset you'd be and then insulted our deputies fitness and appearance. Our agency isn't decent. it's the 7th largest agency in the nation and holds the two highest accreditation standards that exist. If you were that great, you wouldnt be at a job fair. Please do take your vast experience and ego somewhere else.

Before you get too caught up in the 7th largest agency BS, be aware that the only reason that is true is because the Sheriff has clung to the detention side for the purpose of keeping a large number of employees under him while most other Sheriff's Offices in the nation DO NOT count jail employees as part of the size of their agencies.

And accreditation, which was invented in large part by a former HCSO Sheriff so he would have a retirement job, is simply adhering to an arbitrary set of standards that many other Sheriffs in the nation DO NOT agree is necessarily important to how they operate their offices. Accreditation is a private business, not a governmental award.

The observation that many of our employees could not complete the SOT is entirely accurate. I would say that not only many, but probably most could not do it. We have had deputies experience severe injury and even heart attacks simply trying to climb over the challenge wall. Full SOT is not an option.

People leave agencies for many reasons, often related to family circumstances, desires for geographical changes, or simply getting tired of the weather where they are located. Your denigration of the poster for attending our Career Expo is simply stupid.

Too bad that you have bought in to the nonsense promulgated by the Chief Deputy about why we don't hire pre certs. The real reason is because experienced people can more readily recognize when they are being fed a line of BS.

You apparently got your little feelings hurt because an experienced, well qualified deputy chose to take a pass on applying for a job here so you decided to insult him. Get over it.

:!:

Went to the Career Expo and they did a nice job with it but when I was asked if I would start with the process for the road they caught an attitude (even the Major) when I said no. I'm a former Marine, dual certified with over ten years of service on the road and five in detention. I understand and accept the S.O.T. training aspect of your department but I am not interested in doing the academy again when it is not necessary. I was fine with it but they tried to make me feel bad thinking I couldn't do the training. Really?? No wonder why you are in the staffing situation you are in. Just remember you are not training Marines and looking around at alot of your staff, I have to wonder how many could or would do the S.O.T. training to keep their jobs. It looks like you have a decent agency....maybe they need to take a look at how they are recruiting. Taking my certifications and LEO experience down the road....

There are several reasons we don't hire pre-certs without going thru our academy. If you're a rising star at your agency with ten years on, clearly you're an asset. Why did you leave in the first place? You have the ego, arrogance and attitude of a ten year zone deputy and that's why they choose not to hire pre-certs. If you're a star at your agency, you don't want to leave. You showed your character just now by telling us how great and experienced you are and what an asset you'd be and then insulted our deputies fitness and appearance. Our agency isn't decent. it's the 7th largest agency in the nation and holds the two highest accreditation standards that exist. If you were that great, you wouldnt be at a job fair. Please do take your vast experience and ego somewhere else.

Agree with you...as there are already enough big egos at Hcso to last a million years. I think what the folks who have seen both the present and the past at Hcso are trying to say is...the office has lost it's focus on the real meaning of teamwork and making the employees at Hcso feel as though the office is once again their second family. You see, you used to be able to trust and rely upon one another to get through the tough times that naturally come along with the profession of law enforcement. This feeling is just not there anymore and it cannot be replaced with more regulations or accredidations of any kind. For those that never had the opportunity to work in this office and overall profession years ago, they may not realize that the terms "brotherhood" and "thin blue line" really meant something. I have no problem with the 2 week SOT training, but it has sadly created a barrier between those that went through the course and the old timers that have not. No matter what anybody says or believes, you cannot replace years of experience with a 2 week mini-style boot camp program. It is almost comical the amount of attention & focus spent on this 2 week course. In reality, it means zilch if the persons having gone through the program have little to no common sense or life experience in the real world. I do not believe that any benefit comes from making already state certified and working Leo's have to go through the program and even more unbelievably, go through a second law enforcement academy :shock: Just because a candidate is looking to change agencies, does not mean that they are a deadbeat at their current agency or a potential asset to Hcso. Many candidates are simply looking to leave smaller and/or less paying agencies and could easily enter right into a shortened FTO program, where they could hit the streets alone in a fragment of the time currently being spent in the hiring phase at Hcso. Personally, I would much rather work with a experienced & seasoned Leo that came from another agency, over a completely inexperienced deputy that has no law enforcement background other than the 2 week SOT program and Hcso academy. Having experience that can only be obtained by spending years on the street, is irreplaceable and sadly overlooked by this office.