McMinn County Sheriff's Department
Personnel Information
There are eighty-six (86) employees of the McMinn County
Sheriff's Department. These include: thirty-two (32) sworn
personnel, thirty-five (35) civilian personnel, and nineteen (19) reserve
officers.
All sworn personnel are P.O.S.T commission (Peace Officers Standards
and Training) Certified officers. In order to receive certification from
P.O.S.T., an individual must complete a state recognized academy ( a minimum of
300 training hours), successful complete all testing (this includes written
test, firearms courses, emergency vehicle operations and physical agility
testing). In order to maintain certification, these officers are required
to attend forty hours of in-service annually and to qualify with firearms at
that time.
There are currently twelve (12) School Resource Officers:
Two at McMinn County High School
Two at McMinn Central High School
One at the McMinn County Vocational School
The D.A.R.E Program is active in all seven (7) county elementary
schools. At the close of the 1998-1999 school year, 2,263 students had graduated
from the D.A.R.E Program. For those who are not familiar with
D.A.R.E., this program is the Drug Awareness Resistance Education Program for
sixth grade students. The program teaches drug awareness, self esteem,
methods of handling peer pressure and anger control.
The sheriff's department has three (3)
volunteer Chaplains, Rev. Jimmy McCarter, Phillip Cook, and Rev. Randy Harmon. These two pastors volunteer their
time to be available for any staff member who may need them.
Reserve officers volunteer their time to assist the
sheriff's department deputies with routine duties. These officers must attend the
annual in-service training and qualify annually with firearms.
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