POUGHKEEPSIE – Following extensive community outreach by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and the Dutchess County Department of Human Resources, as well as local police agencies, to encourage a diverse applicant pool for the upcoming Police Officer/Deputy Sheriff exam, County Executive Marc Molinaro and Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian “Butch” Anderson have announced nearly 1,400 applications have been submitted to take the upcoming exam.
That is an increase of more than 56 percent over 2017 when the exam was last offered. The outreach effort was also very successful in encouraging a greater diversity of applicants, with a 105 percent increase in African American applicants, a 203 percent increase in Hispanic applicants, an 89 percent increase in Asian applicants and a 98 percent increase in female applicants.
The police exam is scheduled to be administered on Saturday, September 18th, 2021.
The Police Officer/Deputy Sheriff exam is part of the path to becoming a Dutchess County Deputy Sheriff or to serve on a local municipal police force. The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, as well as local municipal police departments, in partnership with the county Human Resources, are committed to a diverse workforce and engaged in a number of initiatives to eliminate barriers and improve recruitment efforts as part of the Dutchess County Police Reform & Modernization Plan. Outreach efforts to encourage diversity of applicants included:
- Waived exam fee for applicants, which is normally $25.
- Expanded recruitment efforts at a variety of events, including upcoming Hudson Valley Renegades baseball games at Dutchess Stadium, as well as outreach at local apartment and housing complexes.
- Extensive public outreach including social media, posters, flyers and media interviews to promote the exam.
- The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office provided free preparation courses at various locations throughout the county to help interested candidates prepare for both the written exam and the physical agilities test components to increase the number of candidates who successfully completed the recruitment process. Dates and times are posted on the DCSO Facebook page at DCSO Facebook page.
- Restructured the 60-college credit requirement to be eligible to take the civil service exam. Dutchess County now requires new officers to acquire 60 college credits within five years of hiring and receive Crisis Intervention Training within two years of appointment.
