Definitions

Definitions Herein are defined certain terms used in these Policy and Procedures. 1. Administrative Hold - Shall mean the withholding of all training funds and certification certificates due to non-compliance with Board policy or official requests for information. 2. Board - Shall mean the Board on Jail Officer Standards and Training. 3. Board Director - Shall mean the Director of the Office of Standards and Training. 4. Break in Service - Any period of time when an individual is not a detention officer as defined in this policy. 5. Certificates - Shall mean certificates issued only to fully qualified detention officers. 6. Certified - Shall mean the Board has acknowledged that all requirements mandated by this policy and the Jail Officers Training Program have been achieved and that a certificate has been issued as documentation of the same. 7. Chief of Police/Sheriff - Shall mean the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality/county, who shall have control and supervision of all detention officers employed by the municipality/county. The officer in charge of detention officers, regardless of title, is acting as the Chief of Police/Sheriff. 8. Criminal Record - Shall mean any type of felony or misdemeanor conviction. Criminal Records that are specific and directly related to the duties and responsibilities of a jail officer may only be considered when evaluating applicants. Factors to determine disqualifying criminal convictions are: the nature and seriousness of the crime for which the individual was convicted; the passage of time since the commission of the crime; the relationship of the crime to the ability, capacity, and fitness required to perform the duties and discharge the responsibilities of a jail officer; and any evidence of rehabilitation or treatment undertaken by the individual that might mitigate against a direct relation. 9. Employment Standards -All detention officer applicants must meet the following guidelines to be employed as a detention officer. They must be at least eighteen (18) years of age; be a high school graduate (or obtain a General Educational Development (GED) Diploma); be a United States citizen; be of good physical and mental condition, capable of performing the duties, under conditions inherent to the profession, as verified by a licensed physician, and be of good moral character as evidenced among other things by having neither a conviction, a plea of guilty, a plea of nolo contendere, probation, pre-trial diversion or the payment of any fine for a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. Individuals must have been discharged from the Armed Forces under honorable conditions. Fitness for service as it relates to moral character must be verified by an appropriate background investigation. 10. “Grand-fathered” or exempt detention officers – Shall mean full-time detention officers already serving under permanent appointment on January 1, 2000, shall not be required to meet certification requirements of this section as a condition of continued employment; nor shall failure of any such jail officer to fulfill such requirements make that person ineligible for any promotional examination for which that person is otherwise eligible. If any jail officer certified under this chapter leaves his employment and does not become employed as a jail officer within two (2) years from the date of termination of his prior employment, he shall be required to comply with board policy as to rehiring standards in order to be employed as a jail officer. 11. Lateral Transfer - A transfer by a certified detention officer to a different law enforcement agency. 12. Detention Officer Employer - Shall mean the agency which employs the detention officer. 13. The Board on Jail Officer Standards Detention Officers – The Board on Jail Officer Standards and Training, by rules and regulations consistent with other provisions of law, shall fix other qualifications for the employment of jail officers, including education, physical and mental standards, citizenship, good moral character, experience and such other matters as relate to the competence and reliability of persons to assume and discharge the responsibilities of jail officers, and the board shall prescribe the means for presenting evidence of fulfillment of these requirements. Additionally, the board shall fix qualifications for the appointment or employment of part-time jail officers to essentially the same standards and requirements as jail officers. The board shall develop and implement a part-time jail officer training program that meets the same performance objectives and has essentially the same or similar content as the programs approved by the board for full-time jail officers. 14. Detention Officer Trainee - Shall mean any person appointed or employed in a full-time or part-time capacity by the state or any political subdivision thereof for the purposes of completing all the selection and training requirements established by the board to become a detention officer. 15. Moral Turpitude - Any conduct, or pattern of conduct, contrary to justice, honesty, honor, modesty, or good morals that would tend to disrupt, diminish, or otherwise jeopardize public trust and fidelity in law enforcement. 16. Probationary Period - A period of two years from the initial date of hire as a detention officer trainee, in the original appointment. The probationary period cannot be enlarged by additional or multiple appointments. Individuals acquire an additional two-year period following a break in-service of more than two years.