LAWTON – The Comanche County Detention Center is changing its eligibility age for potential employees, which could create a new pool of recruits.
The Comanche County Facilities Advisory Board, which is made up of the three county commissioners, voted unanimously April 1 to change the eligible employment age for CCDC staffers from 21 to 18.
The commission was set April 8 to approve language making the change in the county employee handbook. After that, officials will have to notify all county employees of the change and provide them with a copy of the new language.
The change will take effect 30 days after all employees are notified.
Jailers must be 21 and certified by the Council for Law Enforcement Education and Training to carry a firearm at work, but they can begin working at a jail when they are 18, said Commission Chairman Josh Powers. He added that several other Oklahoma counties allow 18-year-olds to work at their jails.
“This will open up the door for another group of potential employees that we’ve been missing out on,” Powers said.
Powers said 18-yearold jailers would receive the same training and supervision as any other CCDC employee.
“They’re able to vote. They’re able to do a lot of other things at the age of 18,” he said. “A job at the county jail is just a way for them to enter the law enforcement field if they’re wanting to explore that.”
The jail’s interim administrator, David Weber, said all new detention officers receive 40 hours of training in their first week on the job. That training includes security procedures, inmate supervision, report writing and other topics.
“Training then continues with on the job training once the new officers are assigned to their shifts,” he said in an email to a Southwest Ledger reporter. “This lasts for 36 hours. They then receive between 20-30 hours of continued education throughout the first year. This is well beyond the state minimum of 24 hours in the first year.”
Weber said the training process will remain the same once the age change takes effect.
Weber said lowering the eligibility age to 18 will cr eate a l arger pool of po tential applicants for jobs at CCDC, which will give people interested in law enforcement careers a p lace to start. He added that he serves on the ad visory board for Great Plains Technology Center’s criminal jus tice program and has been invited to speak to students in that program.
“This would provide a pipeline of po tential recruits for us,” Weber said.