Niagara County Sheriff's Office - Employment Opportunities

DEPUTY SHERIFF:

The Selection Process for Employing Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sheriff’s (Criminal Division) New Hires and Lateral Transfers:

New Hires:

The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office utilizes a two-step process for selecting individuals to be hired as Deputy Sheriff’s.

Step One

Apply for and take the Niagara County Civil Service Deputy Sheriff entrance examination. Passing the exam is not enough, you must score high enough (typically in the 100 to 85 percentage range) to be considered for employment.

Step Two

Once positions open within the Sheriff’s Office the second step of the selection process begins:

A Physical Agility Test is given to the top candidates on the Civil Service List.
An Eligibility List is prepared with those candidates who have successfully completed the Physically Agility Test. The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office utilizes a Residential Eligibility List only. To be included on this list, the candidate must be a Niagara County resident for 30 days prior to the list being requested by the appointing authority.
Canvass letters are sent to the top candidates on the Residential Eligibility List.
Formal Interviews are conducted with the Sheriff and Administration staff.
An Employment Application and Background Questionnaire are completed by those candidates selected to continue in the employment process.
A review of completed Background Questionnaires is completed and a full Background Investigation begins on successful candidates. The Background Investigation includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Criminal History Check
Credit Check
Reference Check
Employment Verification

Upon successful completion of the background process, successful candidates may be given a conditional offer of employment.
Once the medical and psychological exams have been successfully completed, the candidates will be sworn in as Deputy Sheriff of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office.

Newly hired Police Officers must successfully complete the 22 week New York State Basic Police Officers Basic Training Academy (based upon current New York State, Division of Criminal Justice Services, Municipal Police Training Council guidelines). The Sheriff’s Office also requires successful completion of a minimum 12 week Supervised Field Training Officer program. The candidate must also successfully complete an 18 month probationary period.

Applicant Qualifications

The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office periodically seeks candidates to take the Deputy Sheriff's Civil Service Examination. Interested applicants must:

Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and completion of sixty (60) hours of approved college credit, or graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and three (3) years of full-time active duty military experience;
be 19 years at the date of the exam and 20 years old at the date of appointment;
be a U.S. Citizen;
be a licensed driver with good driving record;
be in good physical condition;
have no felony convictions.

Lateral Transfers:

If you are currently employed as a New York State certified full time Police Officer with a Permanent Civil Service classification, and you are interested in employment with the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, you may be eligible to be hired as a lateral transfer. To be eligible you must:

Have a clean service record
Have been hired from a valid New York State Civil Service List
Have successfully completed the Municipal Police Training Council Basic Academy
Successfully complete one year of probation with your current employer

The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office looks for the following qualifications in a lateral transfer deputy sheriff; five years or less of law enforcement experience, a resident of or willing to move to the County of Niagara, a minimum of 60 college credits preferably in a criminal justice curriculum. Military experience and a recommendation by a current Sheriff’s Office member are helpful.

If you are interested in being considered as a lateral transfer police officer to the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office please forward a resume to the attention of:

Sheriff James R. Voutour

Niagara County Sheriff’s Office

5526 Niagara Street Ext.

Lockport, NY 14094

Promotional Opportunities

As you gain experience, you may apply for other positions within the Sheriff’s Office. Some positions may be lateral while others require civil service promotional exams.

After 3 years of service, you are eligible to test for promotion to Sergeant.

After 6 years of service, you are eligible to test for promotion to Captain and Investigator.

Benefits: Dependant on Job Classification

Vacation: 10 working days after the first year accumulating up to a maximum of 25.

Personal Leave/Holidays: 3 personal days per year, 14 paid holidays per year, 13 extra days, Military and Bereavement Leave are available.

Sick Leave: 1 sick day per month is earned to a maximum of 210 days

Health Insurance: The county provides employees with health care coverage under the Niagara Co. Self Insured Health Plan. New employees will contribute 10% per year.

Uniform Maintenance: $400.00 - $750.00 yearly for maintenance.

Retirement Plan: NYS Retirement System, Criminal Deputy - 20 year plan, Correction Deputy - 25 year plan.

Helpful Links:

Understanding the Appointment Process for Police Officers is available at:

www.cs.state.ny.us/pio/publications/police.pdf

A Guide to the Written Test for Entry Level Police Series is available at:

www.cs.state.ny.us/testing/test guides/entry level police officer test guide.pdf

Medical and Physical Fitness Standards and Procedures for Police Officer Candidate is available at: www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us/ops/docs/registry/policeapptsmed.pdf

Frequently Asked Questions: Police officer Examination is available at: