Public Safety Voices | Sheriff Kevin Joyce
We’ve been forced to make a lot of changes in our hiring practices.
“Filling vacancies – specifically in corrections, and to a lesser extent in patrol – in today’s workforce has forced us to make a lot of changes in our hiring practices. To start with, we have to move a lot quicker, which causes anxiety in HR at times: the whole ‘haste makes waste’ adage. But for some Millennials, there’s an expectation for immediate gratification: instant replies, constant communication. It’s labor intensive for my command staff.
“We’re also finding that fewer and fewer applicants make it through the entire application process. Before, we used to get a mass number of applicants for an opening, and it would take about eight applicants to get one good candidate. Now, only 2-3 at a time are dribbling in.
“We spend a lot of money just trying to recruit people. We’re competing against employers who don’t have the rigorous vetting process we do, and against the current reputation of law enforcement in general, as well as the nontraditional work hours and demands of the job.
“Attending local job fairs and placing job announcements in the paper used to be all it took in terms of advertising, but now we have to hit every job fair – even those a couple hundred miles away. We even installed an electric message board at the end of our driveway to advertise vacancies.
“There are people who still respect what we do, and there a lot of people doing good work still. But the role of our command staff has changed to some degree; they’ve had to become cheerleaders for their staff.”
Thirty-two years on the job, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
“The reality of the job is that there are a lot of calls and ways you assist people that have an impact on their lives. The job is whatever you make of it.
“I have 32 years on the job. It’s gone by fast, and I wouldn’t change a thing. You see danger, trauma – what people would consider a lot of negatives. But you see a lot of positives, too.
“I’ve had several people whom I’ve arrested for various issues, or given tickets to, who have later shaken my hand and thanked me because at the time it happened, they were misguided, and if I hadn’t done that, God knows where they would be. That’s the real reward of the job.”
The job isn’t about one officer or one agency – together, we make an impact.
“As an officer, you are a member of a profession that together works as an aggregate. We all make an impact, it’s not just one officer or one agency: It’s everybody working together.
“We have to hold ourselves accountable while trying to hold the people we serve accountable. We have to work to keep the profession honorable.”
–Sheriff Kevin Joyce, Cumberland County, Maine, Sheriff’s Department
Public Safety Voices | Warden Jeff Fewell
People call us the ‘invisibles’ of public safety.
“Working in corrections, we’re very autonomous. We live on an island, so to speak.
“There are five major correctional facilities in Kansas City [Kansas], plus numerous jails, all holding about 8,000 inmates. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent, yet no one wants to hear about it, talk about it, or see it. That makes funding a real challenge. It’s not popular for elected officials to say we need more money for the jail – it’s not sexy, it doesn’t play well with the voters. When you say we need more money for corrections, say for an upgrade of the jail, people don’t want to even talk about it.
“Our job is behind the scenes. If you’re not in the news, you did a great job.”
Staffing is our biggest challenge and the most critical element to our success.
“Corrections finds you, you don’t find corrections. No one in their right mind would say ‘I want to work in a correctional facility.’ No one would choose to walk into a community of criminals. Obviously, that makes staffing a real challenge. We’re the bottom of the barrel, the armpit of public safety.
“What happens is that an opportunity comes up somewhere along the line, and you find out that you’re good at it. The industry embraces you, and you go up the ladder pretty quick.
“Staffing, training, supervision, professional development and facilities: all five things have to be firing all at once, because if we fail, it could be catastrophic.”
Corrections found me by way of a 20-year career in the Army.
“I was a first sergeant at Guantanamo Bay, in the detention camps. For the majority of my 20-year Army career, I was in corrections. I served in facilities in Alaska, Korea, Guantanamo Bay and Germany, finally ending at Ft. Leavenworth. The Army does corrections right. They spend a lot of money. Our jail and Fort Leavenworth both house 400 inmates. Leavenworth’s budget is $50 million, ours is $18 million. We have a staff of 150, they have a staff of 1200. They’re big on programming and have a brigade of military police.
“Back in 2001, the Army did a study to see why it was in corrections; they wanted to civilianize it. Then Abu Ghraib hit, and the Army said, ‘That’s why we’re in corrections.’ When we don’t train and supervise, that’s what happens. You put artillery soldiers in charge of a jail, don’t expect jail to be operating in accordance.
“When I retired from the Army in 2008, civilian corrections was a good fit. Just 10 months after I came out, I was promoted to administrator.* The industry is hungry for leadership: people who take care of people. The Army is really talented at training people to take care of people. It has to be. It’s all volunteer. People wouldn’t sign up or stay if they didn’t.
“Same goes for corrections: You have to have people who are going to take care of it and nurture it. It’s a very sensitive ecosphere – the littlest change can throw it in to a tailspin.”
Despite its challenges, corrections is the biggest and best way to impact and change people’s lives.
“We serve the neediest of all people. Inmates need more than anyone. There are usually five things wrong when someone ends up here: homelessness, addiction, medical problems, mental illness, and/or abuse. When you end up in this facility, all other options have failed.
“If you want to affect change, corrections is best place to be a change agent. We affect people’s lives every day in a positive way. We get letters all the time where people tell us that we saved their life, or the life of their loved one. They tell us: ‘Your jail is quiet, clean and safe; it gave me the time to get my life together.’
“A constitutionally sound correctional facility can change lives. It disconnects you from the criminal element and connects you with people who can help you get your life back together.”
The simplest of solutions are sometimes the best.
“All out inmates have tablets with 500 educational programs on them – some faith-based stuff, a few games and music. The battery life is about five hours, so that’s five hours of ‘me’ time.
“It keeps their brains active, engaged and alert. Our mental health coordinator said, ‘You will not see any suicides if you give them tablets.’
“We have a high suicide rate in jails and multiple attempts. You’re in a dark cell. It’s cold. They’ve lost hope … A tablet can be an oasis. It can relieve some of the pain.”
The biggest threat to corrections is addiction.
“Addiction is our number one problem and our biggest threat. Over 95% of our inmates are addicted to something. An inmate coming off the street is hours from death. Could be meth, heroin, cocaine … Detox takes expensive medication, time and staff, and if you screw up, that person is going to die. The side-effect is death.
“First comes jail, then prison. We assess them, detox them and stabilize them. This includes medical issues outside of addiction. If they need surgery, for example, jails pay for that. Then they go to prison. The prison gets a clean inmate.
“We’re also the largest mental health provider in the government, period. Cook County in Chicago has 10,000 inmates and 20% are mentally ill. We have about 400 and about 120 are chronically mentally ill.”
Done well, there’s a place for privatization.
“Private prisons are in it to make money; we’re in it for public safety. Oversight is key in these facilities. As we say in the Army: ‘check the checker.’
“There is a place for privatized facilities. We have to reduce the levels of inmates to maintain public safety, and that’s when we have to farm them out. We can supervise x number, and once x number has been exceeded, we have to farm out to a privately owned facility.
“They take the inmates no one else could take. We can’t send them to a minimum-security facility because they’ll escape. It’s happened. We have to send them a company that can handle them.”
We take care of the people no one else wants to deal with.
“Corrections personnel are the unsung heroes of public safety. When a cop arrests someone, they spend maybe an hour with them. We spend 12-hour shifts with these folks.
“Right now, we have 400 inmates, twenty of whom are charged with murder – some of them killed cops. We’re the guys who are going to give them everything they need, from toilet paper to medical care.
“We’re looking down the working end of a lawsuit every day. We know the ACLU intimately. We have to be careful: observe and protect, execute their constitutional rights. Safety, custody, care, control, security, health and welfare: it’s what we do.”
–Warden Jeff Fewell, Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas City, KS
*Warden Fewell won the American Jail Association’s National Administrator of the Year award in 2014.
Public Safety Voices | Fire Chief Erik Litzenberg
The city’s services and resources were overburdened by a relatively small number of people. We needed to come up with a better way to meet their needs.
“The most rewarding part of my career came very early on when I was a paramedic: Putting my hands on people we were called to assist, and making them better – or feel better – as a result of what I was doing. I believe that’s why we all get in it – to make a difference.
(Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)
“And now, as chief, I find it incredibly rewarding to be able to identify problems in the community and find solutions that work. For example, last year we launched the Mobile Integrated Health Office (MIHO) in response to a disconnect in care in our city.
“We have a number of people who are not necessarily getting the care they need, and were disproportionately using up the city’s resources (ambulance, ER, etc.) as a result. We’re nearing 20,000 calls this year [2017] – we need to be able to answer them all.
“Having spent the better part of a decade as a paramedic, I saw firsthand that we didn’t always have the tools to help them – at least we didn’t have the right tools in the right places. Now, with the MIHO, we’re able to track people with more complicated and complex needs; we’re able to design a more personal plan to address the needs of those who are higher users of the city’s resources.
“It’s so nice to be able to provide people with the care they actually need, and it frees up our services and resources to help the larger community through our 911 system. We’re starting to collect really great data on how it’s helping. In fact, the data is overwhelming. We’re changing lives.”
Our Mobile Integrated Health Office is changing lives.
“We were regularly being called to help a single mother with a child (early teens) who has a seizure disorder. The mother has some behavioral issues as well – issues with substance abuse. She had been caring for her child alone for many, many years – even carrying him up and down the stairs twice daily. This was far beyond her capabilities, so there were slip issues, and a number of falls. Furthermore, the child was not always receiving his medications because she didn’t understand how to administer them.
“MIHO did a home assessment; the team immersed themselves in their lives and connected the dots for this family. She needed some physical help – railings on the stairs and a lift assist. The child started getting the medications he needed, and the MIHO team educated people at his school about his conditions and needs as well, enabling them to help, too. It was life-changing for this family to receive help from someone who understood the system.
“Another person who stands out in my mind is a guy who had engaged the city and county systems – 911, ER, and jail – over 200 times in one year. In our integrated care approach, we were able to get his needs met and, as a result, reduced that number to one time in six months.
“Not long ago, a man came walking up to me in a suit and tie. He told me that our program has cleaned him up to the point that he had a job interview that day. It was the same guy. He’s now living a normal, functional life.”
We all share a genuine interest in the citizens we serve and their well-being.
“We take a great deal of pride in our work, and we really do care about all the things we take an oath over – to protect our communities, show compassion and care for the people we serve, and to serve honorably. We share a genuine interest in the citizens and their well-being, and yes, we’re as approachable as it seems.”
–Chief Erik Litzenberg, Santa Fe Fire Department
Office of Fire Prevention/Fire Marshal Employees – Your Insights are Requested!
IPMA-HR is currently seeking participants for a nationwide Office of Fire Marshal/Office of Fire Prevention study. This study is the first step in the development of a new series of tests for positions within the Fire Marshal’s Office/Office of Fire Prevention. In this phase, job incumbents are needed to complete a survey to identify the most important tasks and knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (KSAPs) required to perform their job successfully. The questionnaire takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Examples of applicable positions include:
- Fire Marshal
- Deputy Fire Marshal
- Assistant Fire Marshal
- Fire Inspector
- Fire/Arson Investigator
- Fire Prevention Officer
- Code Enforcement Officer.
If you or someone you know holds one of the above positions or a similar position, we would greatly value your input in developing our newest test series.
Please Note: If your position has a different title than the positions listed above, but is similar in nature, we would still like to hear from you!
Participants will be entered into a raffle with a $500 prize! Participating agencies will also receive a 15% discount toward a future IPMA-HR assessment product purchase. Interested parties can learn more about the project and complete an interest form using the following link:
If you would like to participate or have additional questions please email our Research Associate, Julia Hind-Smith, at jsmith@ipma-hr.org.
Public Safety Voices | Director of Campus Public Safety Rebecca Chiles
Being judged by the behavior of a few – that’s our biggest challenge.
“Public perception – who we are and what we’re doing, being judged by the behavior of a few – that’s our biggest challenge. The actions we take to counter that image is to continue doing good things and hiring quality people – and not passing on bad apples. Just getting out and talking to people like normal human beings.
“So, you just keep doing your job and treating everyone fairly and honestly. Being honest. That’s the main thing.”
It’s the little things that make the job rewarding.
“I don’t know that there’s one moment. It’s all the little stuff that makes the job rewarding – when everything comes together, when everyone ‘gets it’ at the same time, then we’re best able to serve. That’s why I’m here.
“For example, we had a ‘Take Back the Night’ event recently; the women’s center on campus organized it. They invited the ADA who prosecutes sex crimes, me and some students to speak at the event. The main speaker canceled at the last minute, so the organizer was rushing around trying to find someone to speak, but instead of one speaker, we all ended up filling in and speaking. We didn’t rehearse; we didn’t talk about what we were going to say with one another. And yet we all said things that played off one another. We said the right things at the right time, it played out beautifully with no coordination. No one could believe it wasn’t rehearsed. It was a really amazing night.”
We’re not superhuman.
“It’s not like it looks on TV. Police officers are people with feelings and fears; we’re not superhuman, we make split-second life or death decisions sometimes.
“I’d like to say something to my fellow officers as well: You have to hold yourselves accountable and your department accountable for the actions of other officers – we don’t want to work with these people. They bring us all down. They bring our communities down. And that’s not why we chose to serve.”
–Director Rebecca Chiles, Campus Public Safety, Western Oregon University
Public Safety Voices: Fire Chief Tom Jenkins
The Millennial workforce presents new challenges.
“Our primary challenge is how to deal with the youngest generation we employ: the Millennials. We’re used to hiring people who want to be career firefighters, and for the first time ever, our new hires are often not interested in a long-term career. So, how do we keep them motivated and retain them?
“We start by acknowledging that it’s not business as usual. This is just not the same group working here today; they’re not going to conform to what we believe are the best parts of the job. For example, it’s hard to get Millennials to work overtime – they enjoy their time off. We used to work 24 on, 48 off; now we work 48 on, 96 off.
“This generation is also focused on wanting to make a difference, to have an impact – to see and do different things. If things get stagnant or they get bored, then they’re unhappy and want to go elsewhere. So, to combat that, we created diversity in our assignments, e.g., running airport fire stations, special rescue and hazardous materials teams.
“At some point it begins to inch toward a crisis. We can’t compete with the private sector on pay. We offer a great pension, but they live in the now. They’re not thinking about the future.”
At best, fighting fires is only five percent of our job.
“The one thing people don’t respect enough is the wide scope of our business. Over 3,000 people die every year in a fire; it’s still a very real and tangible threat. But a lot of people think all we do is fight fire. At best, that’s five percent of our job.
“We’re the only 24/7 health care industry that still makes house calls. Car wreck, train wreck, chemical spill, chest pains, or a house on fire – we’re the first on the scene. We work to balance all the new and emerging things we do. It’s tough to advocate for so many different things, and be master of all.”
–Fire Chief Tom Jenkins, Rogers, Arkansas, Fire Department