Policy

Policy 1. The board shall certify as detention professionals those persons who meet the employment guidelines established in accordance with Mississippi Code as Annotated Section 45-4-9. A. Certification under the Jail Officers Training Program (ETTP) is limited by law to detention officers only. A detention officer is defined as any person who is: 1. Appointed or employed full-time, part-time, reserve, or auxiliary by the county or municipal political subdivision, 2. And whose primary responsibility is the custody, care, and control of inmates in a county or municipal juvenile or adult detention facility. B. Detention facility shall mean any juvenile or adult lock-up or holding facility where a person or persons are placed after being arrested or detained for the purposes of awaiting court action or are serving time as administered by the court. C. Detention officers already serving under permanent appointment on 1 January 2000 are not required to meet any of the provisions of the detention officer program. 1. This exclusion from the requirements of the detention officer program is valid so long as the eligible officer does not have a break in detention employment of more than two years. If an officer who is grandfathered under the program leaves employment as a detention officer and does not become a detention officer within two years, the officer will be required to meet all the requirements of the Act. D. All detention applicants with the noted exception in paragraph (C) above must meet the following guidelines to be employed as a detention officer: 1. Be at least eighteen (18) years of age, 2. Be a high school graduate or obtain a GED. High School graduate is defined as graduating from a secondary school in an accredited school district having earned the required Carnegie units and successfully completed any and all subject area testing as specified by the Mississippi Department of Education in the year the diploma was awarded. a. Accredited schools include those accredited by the Departments of Education from each State, the Private School Association from each State, the Association of Christian Schools International, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) or one of the six regional bodies of the Association of Colleges and Schools. b. If an applicant has not obtained a high school diploma from an accredited school, the applicant must obtain a GED through the Mississippi Department of Education or obtain an equivalent score on a GED test administered by the American Council on Education. c. Applicants may provide a standardized test score on the ACT of 18 or higher in lieu of a GED score. 3. Be a United States Citizen, 4. Be of good physical and mental condition, capable of performing the duties, under conditions inherent to the profession, as verified by a licensed practitioner, 5. Be of good moral character as evidenced among other things by having neither a conviction nor a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, probation, pre-trial diversion, or payment of any fine for a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. Individuals discharged from the Armed Forces must have served under honorable conditions and not been removed from the service under a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge. Fitness for service as it relates to moral character must be verified by an appropriate background investigation. E. Individuals who meet both the definition for a detention officer in (A) above and who meet the minimum employment guidelines are eligible to be employed as a detention officer. 1. Such officers must successfully complete prescribed training and obtain certification within two years from their date of hire. Prior to entering the prescribed training course, officers must complete CPR/First Aid training. Documentation of CPR/First Aid Certification must be provided to the Training Facility. a. Officers assigned to work in an adult detention facility are required to complete the Standardized Detention Officer Course. b. Officers assigned to work in a juvenile detention facility are required to complete the Standardized Detention Officer Course and the Extended Course Component for Juvenile Officers. c. Officers working in both adult and juvenile detention facilities must complete training in both training programs. Note: Although the statute provides up to two years from the date of hire and under certain limited conditions individuals may lawfully serve beyond the two- year period, agencies should adopt policies to provide training as soon as possible, preferably prior to the assignment of any detention duties. Detention administrators are responsible for providing adequate and appropriate training to reduce the potential risks of conduct which could result in a violation of someone’s civil rights, injury, or death. Failure to do so has been construed by the courts as being deliberately indifferent. 2. The two-year probationary period begins upon the initial date of hire as a detention officer. Individuals who begin employment with an agency in a non-detention position such as a dispatcher must report the effective date of their transfer to a detention position as their initial date of hire. 3. The two-year period is cumulative in nature and cannot be enlarged by additional or multiple employments. If an officer transfers from one department to another department prior to obtaining certification, the total time served will count toward the two-year period. For example, if an officer began employment and quit after three months, the officer would have twenty-one months remaining upon subsequent employment. The full two-year period may only be reinstated upon a break in service to two years or more. F. The program makes no provision to waive, enlarge, or extend the two-year period nor does the Act authorize the Board on Jail Officer Standards and Training (BJOST) to waive, enlarge or extend the two-year period. However, the Act does provide that any person, who, due to illness or other events beyond his/her control, could not attend the required school/training as scheduled, may serve with full pay and benefits in such a capacity until he/she can attend the required school/training. 1. To qualify as being eligible to continue receiving pay beyond the two-year period, individuals generally must have met all selection criteria upon employment and in particular must have been able to meet the physical fitness guidelines as determined by a licensed practitioner. 2. Applicants must have been scheduled to attend a specific basic course by name and accepted for enrollment in a course which would have satisfied the two-year requirements. Once it is determined that an officer cannot complete the course as scheduled, the hiring agency must provide written documentation that fully describes the event which prevents the student from successfully completing the course. The written documentation must include adequate documentation that the event was indeed beyond the student’s control. A student’s dismissal from the training program due to misconduct or failure to meet the academic/training standards would not constitute an event beyond that student’s control. Illness injuries or other events which could be reasonably avoided would not excuse a student’s failure to achieve the training standards. Events, which are precipitated by a student’s negligence, misconduct, or illegal activity, will not be considered as “beyond the Student’s control”. For example, a vehicular accident in which the student operator was found to be operating the vehicle in a willfully reckless fashion or under the influence of intoxicating substances would not be beyond that student’s control as such events can be readily avoided. 3. Any such event which prevents a student from completing the course as scheduled must be temporary in nature. Applicants must have reasonable potential to recover from the illness, injury or other event and make a reasonable effort successfully complete the training course. In any case, applicants must complete the training within two years from the date of their illness or injury or be reevaluated as to their ability to meet the physical fitness employment guidelines. Such evaluations will be conducted in accordance with the Board’s policy on recall or cancellation of certificates. In addition to those procedures, applicants must submit a Board- approved medial examination dated within six months of the review hearing. 4. Events precipitated by natural disaster, civil disturbance, war or acts of God which would reasonably interfere with the normal conduct of detention activities within a political subdivision or disrupt the detention training programs of the state would enable an applicant to continue to serve and receive salary as a detention officer. 5. Agencies must make every reasonable effort to provide training to their officers and adopt policies which ensure that their officers complete the prescribed training requirements within the two-year period. Agencies which fail to provide adequate funding or other appropriate resources to ensure compliance with the program will not be eligible to continue the service of officers who have not completed the training requirements within the two-year period. 6. Should the State fail to provide adequate resources or funding to enable each officer to complete the required detention training within the two-year time limit, agencies may continue to employ such officers until they have the opportunity to complete the next available training program. 7. The Board staff shall review the facts and circumstances for each instance where an applicant’s department requests to continue service beyond the two-year period. The staff shall determine whether the applicant was eligible to be employed as a detention officer, whether the applicant was scheduled to attend a basic course within the two- year period, whether the injury, illness or other event was beyond the control of the applicant and whether the situation will be temporary or permanent in nature. G. The detention officer program makes provision to penalize agencies who employ officers without obtaining certification beyond the two-year period. These penalties include a loss of powers and authorization to receive a salary. To avoid these penalties, agencies should consider all contingencies in the planning of the evaluation, employment, and training of their personnel.