SDSU-IV interns help run Calexico
CALEXICO — Twenty-yearold San Diego State University-Imperial Valley campus junior Aileen Corcoles knows a thing or two about internships.
The criminal justice major recently completed a sixmonth internship with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, where she helped with pretrial services.
Corcoles is also in the process of wrapping up a ninemonth internship with the U.S. Marshals Service, where she helps process inmates’ court dates.
The close of the current semester will also mark the end of her paid internship with the Calexico Police Department, where she has alternately worked for its records, investigations and administration divisions.
“It definitely does feel like I’m doing actual police work,” Corcoles said.
Corcoles, who said she one day hopes to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is among eight SDSU-IV students who currently work for the city of Calexico in a variety of its departments as part of a pilot program between the city, the university and the Imperial County Workforce Development Office.
The internship program, known as the Employee Development and Advancement Program, was specifically designed to provide prospective students with an immersive experience that reflects public sector work, whether it be in police services, building and planning, housing and economic development or finance.
The pilot program owes much of its creation to City Manager Armando Villa, who shortly after being hired in June noted that staffing levels were below optimal levels and that the city lacked sufficient resources to hire additional employees.
Yet, Villa said he envisioned an internship program that provided participants with real-world job skills and not just simply provide bodies to complete menial tasks. Such a program would also be highly beneficial to graduating students entering the job market.
Previously, while employed with the county, Villa said that many vacant entry-level positions would attract a considerable number of highly-educated applicants who had limited work experience.
“I was always amazed that we were getting people with Master’s degrees applying for entry-level jobs with absolutely no experience in government,” Villa said.
As part of the pilot program, participating students must complete 150 hours as interns.
They are also paid minimum wage, using funding from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014.
Although the pilot program is in its initial stages, Villa said he hopes the city can continue to take part and expand the scope of responsibilities the interns will perform, such as take part in meetings or deliver presentations to city commissions to help improve students’ public speaking skills.
The day that the city finds its finances on solid footing and funds to start hiring, the standout SDSU-IV interns will likely have an advantage over other potential applicants for future employment with the city, Villa said.
“Those are going to be the ones with the upper hand when a job becomes available,” he said.
Aside from the Police Department, a number of city departments currently employ the interns, including Building and Planning, Housing and Economic Development. Participating department heads also appear to have responded positively to the pilot program.
“I think for the most part they want to be a mentor and they see this as a plus,” Villa said.
The Police Department currently has two SDSU-IV interns who are getting a close-up look at the department’s inner workings.
The interns typically will spend about 20 hours total working with each of the department’s divisions, which include records, patrol, investigations, dispatch, administration and parking enforcement, said Lt. Jesus Serrano.
After about 120 hours are accrued working with the different divisions, the interns are given a choice of completing their remaining hours with a division of their choosing.
Corcoles said she already has worked with the department’s records, investigation and administration divisions, and would like to close out her internship with investigations.
“It has to do with what I want to do in my future,” Corcoles said. “I’ve always been interested in finding out unanswered questions.”
Before her internship is over, Corcoles and her fellow intern can expect to have taken part in patrol ride-alongs, performed fingerprinting, helped with the submittal of criminal complaints as well as investigations, to name a few activities, said Serrano.
“We’re a 24-hour full service police station,” Serrano said. “They’re kept pretty busy.”
Outside of previous stints in the retail sector, SDSU-IV freshman Yamil Flores’ work experience is somewhat limited for someone who is planning to pursue a law enforcement career with hopes of climbing the administrative ladder.
His current internship with the city manager is his first office job, and has already exposed him to a variety of administrative work, whether it’s trying to help resolve the citizenry’s concerns about housing, electricity and business licenses, or simply referring them to the proper service provider.
Flores readily admits that he hadn’t chosen to work with city manager’s office, but he is glad that he was placed there.
“It is the one that has the most communication with all the citizens,” he said.