Jailers in DeSoto, Marshall counties receive certification
They were Tasered during training. They also visited Parchman prison.
But most of all, they were taught during a three-week certification training class that their jobs were about honesty and integrity.
Twelve detention officers employed at the DeSoto County and Marshall County jails received state jail certifications last week during a graduation ceremony at the county jail in Hernando.
“I ask that when you receive your certificate, you accept it with pride and understand the role you have chosen for yourself as a detention officer,” Chad Wicker, the director of detention services at the DeSoto County Jail, told the officers during the certification graduation. “You must treat the people that you deal with on a daily basis with honesty and integrity.”
The 12 honored during the graduation were the eighth or ninth class to go through the jail certification program. And with the county recently voting to expand the jail to include 268 more beds, the state-certified officers are needed, Wicker said.
He said that since 2009, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department has part- nered with the University of Mississippi to teach the certification program in-house. Ole Miss provides the curriculum and DeSoto County detention officials who have been through training teach the classes at the jail.
“These classes cost like $750 per person and, unfortunately in law enforcement and corrections, we have a high turnover rate, so it is very cost-effective for us to do our own in-house academy,” Wicker said.
The jailers are required by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to receive the certification within two years after they are hired.
The classes are usually taught in April and again in October. The jailers are taught how to deal with exposure to a Taser and pepper spray. They also learn about inmate supervision, litigation and defensive tactics.
DeSoto County allows officers from the North Mississippi counties of Coahoma, Marshall, Tate and Tunica to attend the in-house training at no cost to their departments, Wicker said.
During Wednesday’s graduation, the class consisted of eight jailers from DeSoto County and four from Marshall County.
The officers who received their certifications were Megan Jenkins, Michael Kim, Christine Zinn, Vasharn Simmons, Joshua Price, Andrew Houston, Kevin Kroth, William Boliek, Ronald Harris, Earlean Howell, John LeSuer and Eddie Lucas.