Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs' Association

President's Message

By Matt Findlay

Welcome to 2008. In case you haven’t been by, the new VCDSA building is rapidly coming along. Our general contractor, Apex Construction, has a full crew on site six days a week. During the process we’ve made lots of little adjustments and changes, and all for the better. We are anticipating a February move date and staff is starting to box up the old office and get ready to move west.

One consequence of moving is that the Rap Sheets for January and February, as well as March and April, will be combined, “two-month” editions. This is due to our production and printing time, which will be impacted as we transition into the new building. The Rap Sheet should be back on a monthly track by May.

Because of the combined Rap Sheet editions, the annual VCDSA Scholarship application is in this current issue (see the BeneFactor section inside for the application and more info). Again this year, there will be five scholarships of $1,500 each presented by VCDSA. The application deadline is March 31st and an application form will also be available for download at www.vcdsa.org. Good luck to all.

Following the recent sergeant’s promotion process, some issues were brought to our attention related to the Promotability Review and Inside Oral segments of the exam. The Promotability Review is the part of the exam in which the most recent 5 years of the applicant’s personnel file and performance appraisals are reviewed, and the applicant gives a 5-minute oral presentation with no questions or answers. Prior to the sergeant’s promotion process, the Promotability Review segment was changed to a pass/fail grade and the new Inside Oral segment was added and assigned 40% of the overall applicant score.

However, in the wake of the sergeant’s process, discussion centered around the fact that using a pass/fail Promotability Review appeared to undervalue the applicants’ annual performance appraisals, something that most supervisors put a lot of effort into and the Department weighs heavily for annual work indicators and other personnel purposes. The pass/fail scenario resulted in applicants not being graded on how their direct supervisors viewed them as employees over the most recent 5 years, or on their other achievements or distinctions reflected in the personnel file.

We discussed the possibility of having the Promotability Review and Inside Oral segments combined in some manner, but County Personnel Rules and Regs prohibit any combination or overlap of those two parts of the process because each is intended to serve a unique purpose. Because we saw a major need to have each applicant’s work history and annual evaluations graded, rather than just counted as pass/fail, we suggested and the Department agreed that the Promotability Review and Inside Oral would each be assigned 20% of the overall score, totaling the same 40% previously utilized by the Department for the Inside Oral.

It is incumbent upon applicants to prepare themselves for each part of the process. VCDSA wants the promotion process to be as fair as possible for all applicants, but there is probably no perfect process and there may always be something to critique. I want to thank those that came to us with some valid concerns and very viable solutions, and hopefully the adjustments made will achieve a better process for the future.

As you probably know, the new subpoena process has been implemented and from what we have heard (or not heard) it seems to be working satisfactorily. We understand the minor issues that have arisen have been dealt with quickly by the DA’s Office. If there are still problems or issues please contact your supervisor.

Be advised that VCDSA has renewed its Corporate Membership in our local 24Hour Fitness centers. This means you and your family members can still get cheaper access to 24Hour Fitness and work on that #1 New Year’s resolution. See the ad in this Rap Sheet for all the details.

The VCDSA website, www.vcdsa.org, has a new message page for upcoming retirements. Take a gander to see who is moving on so you can make it to the retirement celebrations. All you need to do is go to the website, click Enter, and then click “Happy Retirement!” in the main menu. This new feature resulted from a suggestion by one of our esteemed retirees, and we appreciate it. We are starting to see the succession in the Department this year, and the DA’s office is looking at a 40% turnover in the next four to five years. Many changes lay ahead.

Very shortly we’ll be sending you notice of our new Ventura office address and telephone numbers. Thank you to the City of Camarillo for a great 20 years, and thank you to the VCDSA Board of Directors in 1987 for their foresight in purchasing the Camarillo building. It has served us well.

See you in March! Until then, stay the course—Matt.