Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office looking to fill open positions

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is accepting applications for at least 80 new positions opening up and the deadline to apply is just around the corner.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriffs department is looking to hire. 45 jobs are available with the department now, but many more will be needed when the new jail in Santa Maria is scheduled to open at the end of the year.

“We are still expected to hire about thirty-five more positions as it nears completion and opening,” said Jeff Greene, Human Resources lieutenant. “Everything from jail cook to custody deputies.”

That’s about 80 jobs the department will look to fill between the Santa Barbara and Santa Maria jails.

“The North County jail that is being built needs to be staffed and so a lot of those positions that we are currently hiring for are going to go to that location, however we are a county wide facility so some people may be down here and some of the experienced people may go up there to open it up,” said Greene.

“It has been a challenging and exciting career,” said Keith Mcalevey, a deputy for the Santa Barbara sheriffs department.

Mcalevery joined the Santa Barbara Sheriffs department at the south county jail more than year ago. He said the application process is lengthy. It took him nearly a year to get hired.

“It started off with a physical fitness test and you go into a written test, the next step would be a department interview, and then a polygraph test, background interview, and more,” said Mcalevery.

For the first time the sheriff’s department is adding a new position. Nine Sheriff’s Service Technician jobs will be available similar to what’s currently called a ‘Community Service Officer.

“Not necessarily targeted towards young people but a perfect opportunity for younger people to get involved with the sheriffs office.At the station they do minor report writing for like lost cell phones or lost bikes,” said Greene.

And just like Mcalevery, many more will be added to this new and growing family.

“Be willing to wait and just have the end goal in mind,” said Mcalevery. “The process flies by in the grand scheme of things once it is over with it will seem like nothing, just get through it and it will be a very rewarding career.”