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The Mercer County Sheriff's Office Junior Deputy Program allows youth aged 14-21 to gain practical law enforcement experience. Sheriff Doug Timmerman is on a mission to boost enrollment numbers.
CELINA - In 1988, at the recommendation of Coldwater High School Principal Larry Fair, a 16-year-old sophomore enlisted in the Mercer County Sheriff's Office Explorer Program.
The enthusiastic teen soaked it all in, riding shotgun with deputies on patrol shifts, tackling parking duty at the Mercer County Fair and Celina Lake Festival, conducting house checks, sitting behind a 911 dispatch console, and upon turning 18, cutting his teeth in the jail.
Today, after rising through the ranks and serving in every division of that office, Doug Timmerman, 52, is sheriff of Mercer County, an achievement he largely credits to his time in the explorer program, where he learned the ins and outs of law enforcement and cemented his career path.
"I was already old enough that I was allowed to ride with the deputies, because you have to have a driver's license in order to ride with deputies," Timmerman said. "So I spent a great deal of time riding with the deputies back then, and that's where I got my interest in law enforcement."
Timmerman isn't the only explorer program alumnus now employed at the sheriff's office.
"I can think of at least nine or 10 of them right now off the top of my head," he said. "A lot of them are supervisors. They've made their way through the steps too, several of them a little bit younger. I think that passion helps them get through this."
The Mercer County Sheriff's Office Junior Deputy Program allows youth aged 14-21 to gain practical law enforcement experience.
The program accepts youth aged 14 to 21 who have completed the eighth grade and maintain at least a C- average, possess good moral character and have no serious arrests or convictions. It's open to students from all six school districts in Mercer County.
Though it has undergone some changes since its founding in the late '60s, including being renamed the Junior Deputy Program after the sheriff's office ended its affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America, the aim remains the same: to recognize and cultivate local youth who have a strong interest in law enforcement, preferably for eventual employment with the sheriff's office.
"I want to foster our hometown kids to work in our community," Timmerman said. "The professional level of the sheriff's office, I think, has come a long way, and obviously I feel like it's my job to keep it there and take it to the next level."
Departments small and large across the country are facing challenges, according to Chuck Wexler, executive director for Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit policing think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Officers are resigning or retiring at higher rates than applicants are becoming officers, he said. Even though more people are beginning to apply, there's still a gap, according to the Associated Press.
Timmerman believes the Junior Deputy Program is an excellent way to introduce area teens to various phases of law enforcement and hopefully set them on a trajectory to joining the sheriff's office.
"It's a little bit like the College Credit Plus: You're coming here to earn some good training that, if you want to make this your career, is going to springboard you to the next step," he said.
Late last year when Timmerman was sworn into office as sheriff, he emphasized the importance of a community-based approach to law enforcement. Part of that community engagement will involve Timmerman visiting the schools to talk to students about opportunities such as the sheriff's office's Junior Deputy Program.
"I have this desire because I see how it affected me. I want to get around to the schools a lot," he told The Daily Standard at the time. "We're struggling with recruiting, we're struggling with hiring, and even if we can get a couple people here and there that came along the same path that I did, I think that would help us out for future careers here, too."
The Junior Deputy Program, Timmerman said, was all the rage when he was in high school.
"It kind of ebbs and flows. When things are not positive in the public's eye with law enforcement, you don't get any kids signing up," he said. "When I started (in the late '80s) there were probably upwards of 15 to 18 of us. We've been down to points where we've had two or three of them."
At present, Timmerman said there's "less than a handful of youth" serving as junior deputies.
"We're trying to ramp that back up. We've got some ideas in place," he said. "We've got a training lieutenant here now who has approached me with trying to put on a Junior Deputy Academy."
Such a concept, he said, would be similar in nature to the long-running Citizens Academy, which offers county residents 21 and older a behind-the-scenes look at the divisions, operations and equipment of the sheriff's office.
Last year's academy featured evening sessions covering enforcement, 911 and dispatch, corrections, firearms, and civil divisions, culminating with a graduation ceremony and meal.
"We hope to draw in some interest and maybe do some hands-on teaching with these junior deputies, maybe teach them how to do fingerprints, how to (take) measurements at a traffic scene, maybe a process of booking somebody into the jail," Timmerman said. "I have to say it's a work in progress but we have a goal of trying to do something this year."
In the meantime, the sheriff's office is actively seeking applications.
Mercer County Junior Deputies held direct traffic at the Mercer County Fair and Celina Lake Festival each year. Each junior deputy is paired with a sheriff's office deputy.
Junior deputies take part in a number of activities while donning the program's official uniforms, including parking cars, assisting with parades, hitting the road with deputies and lending a hand at the 911 dispatch center.
"That way, they get a little bit of a flavor of everything's that going on," Timmerman said.
He said junior deputies naturally gravitate toward officers with whom they feel comfortable.
"They normally figure that out on their own," he said. "Some of our young girls like riding with (Patrol Sgt.) Rachel Heinl and (Deputy) Kristen Nixon or Carla Baucher and the detectives because they're comfortable with them," he said. "Other ones couldn't care less. … Some of it is just by nature that they could only make it on these dates and times, so that's the one they gravitate to."
Working with an array of officers shows junior deputies there's more than one way to skin a cat.
"I rode with a lot of deputies over my time, and I learned real quick there's not always one way to do something, and it was always nice to see another deputy's version on how he or she would handle that," Timmerman reflected. "I picked the things that I liked that worked for me."
Back in Timmerman's day, the explorers would conduct house checks and other types of assignments that are no longer part of the program.
"We did a lot back then. As the danger has increased, we've kind of minimized their exposure a little bit," he noted. "If you ever notice you'll see a (junior deputy) with a deputy at the fair. We don't let (junior deputies) walk around by themselves."
Though safety is a top priority, Timmerman wants the junior deputies to be in a position where they can observe what is transpiring.
"I'll be the first to tell you that when I was an explorer I got out of the car, went in the house with a deputy, did whatever. If there's any inkling of danger … the deputy knows enough to go, 'You're instructed to stay inside the locked vehicle,'" Timmerman said. "We do not try to put our people in harm's way. But if we're going to make this successful, they do need to be within eye- or earshot that they can learn from it."
The Mercer County Sheriff's Office Junior Deputy Program allows youth aged 14-21 to gain practical law enforcement experience.
Timmerman said the office is well aware that many youths lead busy lives, juggling sports, schoolwork, jobs and other activities.
"We're going to make sure that it doesn't affect their school work. You have your other priorities we expect you to take care of too," he said. "If you're struggling in school, you need to focus on school. This is a secondary thing."
That being said, the sheriff's office expects junior deputies to maintain a certain level of commitment.
"I want them to be active if they're going to be here. I don't want, 'I'm on the junior deputy (program) and I haven't seen you for 13 months.' That doesn't do anybody any good," Timmerman said. "It's like joining the band. If you want to be a band member, commit. We are certainly understanding that schoolwork comes first. I do want you to be involved in sports or FFA or any other extracurricular activity."
Some junior deputies may come out a few times a week, others a few times a month.
"We're obviously going to limit it if we think they're doing too much," Timmerman said. "During the fair we let them kind of get as many hours as we can get out of them, especially in the evenings. The parking is problematic."
Timmerman also said that not every applicant automatically becomes a junior deputy, stressing it's not a "scared straight program," referencing the late '70s documentary of the same name where juvenile delinquents spent time with prison inmates.
"That doesn't mean somebody couldn't have a scrape in their past that we can't get past, but it depends on the level of that," he said. "A speeding ticket is not going to keep you from being in the Junior Deputy Program. Stealing and robbing, you're not getting into the Junior Deputy Program. That's just not going to happen."
Those interested in the program can email Sgt. Patrick Cupp at patrick.cupp@mercercountysheriffohio.gov.
