New jailers begin training

As widely publicized in the news media over the past several weeks and months, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office took over operational management of the county jail effective on Oct. 1. Prior to that it was managed by an outside private agency, and all correctional officers were employees of that company.  Now, for the first time the LCSO is putting on a three week training class for new correctional officers that will soon help support many of the Officers who have previously worked for the former private agency but are now county employees.

Sheriff Bobby Rader welcomed the new class members to the agency, and he stressed that professional conduct and ethics would be the hallmark of this new jail management system. LCSO Training Coordinator Deputy Ann Marie Mitchell has singlehandedly pulled the training agenda together for the nine new correctional officers who will go through a three week course to prepare them to then take the Texas Commission On Law Enforcement (TCOLE) examination. All standards required by TCOLE for correctional officers have been integrated into this class and the new officers will be issued a temporary license upon completion of the class with a year ahead of them to complete the TCOLE examination.

Dep. Mitchell said there will be a heavy emphasis on professional standards and seeking out those with leadership abilities with strong ethics. During the three week course the classes will be varied with subject material such as stress management, ethics, de-escalation techniques, professionalism, civil rights, hostage negotiations to name only a few. Due to the fact there are still several openings for new correctional officers, there will be a second class starting almost immediately after this first class graduates.

Dep. Mitchell said that for those who may be interested in position with the academy class they can obtain an application from the Sheriff’s Office or obtain one from the Sheriff’s Office website.