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| Sheriff Tim Cameron and Mark Tasciotti |
Mark Tasciotti began duties as the
new Recruiter for the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office this week. As the
full-time Recruiter, Tasciotti will work to fill vacant positions in law
enforcement and corrections.
With 302 positions budgeted in the
Sheriff’s Office, there are currently five vacancies in law enforcement
positions and 12 in corrections.
“We are making steady progress on
filling our vacancies,” Tasciotti said. “We’re continually recruiting all of
the time.”
“Recruiting qualified personnel into
the law enforcement and corrections professions is a challenge not only locally
but nationally because of the inherent nature of the work,” Sheriff Tim Cameron
said. “Having a full-time, professional recruiter at our agency ensures we
continue to bring in the best people working at the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s
Office,” he said.
What is not commonly known is that it
takes some time between when a person is hired and when that deputy hits the
streets on patrol, Tasciotti said. Cadets have to wait for the next session of
the Southern Maryland Criminal Justice Academy to begin. Once the Academy starts,
the police course takes 32 weeks and 10 weeks for corrections personnel. Upon
graduation, the police cadet then goes through 2.5 more months of field
training with Sheriff’s Deputies. With these legal requirements from the state
of Maryland, it can take at least one year for a deputy to begin duties on the
street from the time he or she was hired.
“We mentor our applicants if needed,”
Tasciotti said. “That’s where we go above and beyond. Applicants don’t feel
like a number when they come and see us.”
Tasciotti, a retired Captain from the
Washington D.C. Fire and EMS Department, started with the St. Mary’s County
Sheriff’s Office as a Background Investigator in March 2013.
