By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News
kkrause@dallasnews.com
The dismal performance of the Dallas County Sheriff Department's latest training class has prompted officials to seek permission to lower the physical requirements for entry to the program.
Only five deputy recruits – out of more than 200 applicants – graduated from the most recent academy class.
Sheriff's officials said they also plan to hire a firm to study their admission standards to see whether they're too tough.
The department has about a dozen deputy vacancies to fill, Chief Deputy Joe Costa said. That number could grow to 25 after retirements and normal attrition if no positions are filled, he said.
Applicants who pass the written test to the academy also have to pass a physical agility test.
During the most recent application process, 206 signed up but only 39 passed the written exam. Of those, only 16 passed the physical fitness test. Eleven of them were eliminated for various reasons.
The physical test requires applicants to complete a "sit and reach" test, a vertical leap, 21 push-ups and 29 sit-ups. Applicants also must complete a 300-meter run in 72 seconds and a 1 ½ -mile run in less than 16 minutes, 28 seconds.
Costa said the department wants to lower those standards only for entry into the academy. After 12 weeks, cadets would have to meet the initial standards to stay in the 20-week program, he said.
The department plans to submit its request to the sheriff's civil service commission, which oversees such rule changes, when it meets next week.
County Commissioner John Wiley Price said he isn't sure he wants entrance standards to be lowered. If some recruits can't pass after 12 weeks in the academy, then that's wasted money, he said.
"I have too many questions looming out there. I don't want to drop a standard," he said.
Price said maybe the Sheriff Department should try to recruit better deputy candidates.
County Judge Jim Foster said he thinks the proposed change is a good idea.
"I think the objective is to get more recruits," he said. "Ultimately, they're either qualified or not."
The more lenient entrance standards will give applicants "a chance to get in shape," said Capt. David Mitchell, who is in charge of the sheriff's personnel division. "It's trying to throw the door open a little bit wider."
Mitchell said the change will make the application process more friendly to women and older applicants.
Costa said the current dozen deputy vacancies are "workable." But when deputies need to cover shifts in the jails because of short staffing, it can cause difficulties, he said.
"It's not overwhelming, but we would like to fill them [vacancies] so we can move people into traffic and warrants," Costa said.
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