Cisco Ortiz, chair of Trine University’s Department of Criminal Justice, recently
was a guest presenter at a training program for new jail officers in the region.
The Steuben County Sheriff’s Office hosted an Indiana Law Enforcement Academy’s Basic
Jail Officer School, where eight newly hired jail and corrections officers from Steuben,
DeKalb and LaGrange counties received training in various topics. According to the
ILEA website, the minimum 40-hour Jail Officers School is a part of the academy's
ongoing mandatory training.
All jail officers from county sheriff's offices throughout Indiana must successfully
complete the jail officer training within a year of their appointment date. Areas
of classroom discussion include legal considerations from intake to release, jail
security, medical considerations, suicide prevention, abnormal behavior in inmates,
admissions and booking, stress management, and Indiana Department of Corrections procedures
and relationships to inmates and jails.
The course is designed to provide new jail officers with the basic information necessary
to allow them to function in their facilities, and is intended to be supplemented
by annual in-service training provided by their respective departments.
Ortiz presented courses on Cultural Diversity/Awareness and Effective Communication.
Ortiz is a former instructor for the Indiana Sheriff’s Association’s Advance Jail
Officer Training program.
