Newly installed El Paso County Sheriff Joe Roybal announced the start of Peace Officers Standards and Training certified academies, noting the Sheriff’s Office is accepting applications for POST-certified deputy positions. The announcement means a reversal of a policy adopted in 2018 by Roybal’s predecessor Sheriff Bill Elder, who reduced the training given to jail deputies to about half that required by POST to save money on salaries by paying those jail deputies less, and to save money on training costs. Elder’s policy was adopted in the face of a decline in personnel due to attrition, he said at the time.
Sheriff’s spokesperson Lt. Deborah Mynatt tells Sixty35 via email, “Jail assigned deputies will now be POST certified. We currently have 144 non-certified deputies in the jail who each have the opportunity to become POST certified through a fair, established process, based largely on seniority. The number of internal candidates we can send to the academy will be determined based on the needs of the Office as each academy approaches.”
Candidates can apply at tinyurl.com/POST-cert. The county’s Human Resources Department will respond to applicants with an email.