The Utah Legislature in 2019 passed a law allowing county jails to hire 19- and 20-year-olds as certified corrections deputies, expanding the pool of potential hires. All of law enforcement, and especially county jails, have suffered deepening staff shortages over the past several years.

Under the previous law, all state-certified law enforcement jobs, including corrections deputies, were limited to people 21 years or older.

Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon said in a news release that the agency has been running short of 30 to 50 corrections deputies for the past year. He said the sheriff’s office, the county commission and the county human resources office have been studying the age question of younger hires.

“I think one of the biggest questions was whether hiring 19-year-olds would be a good thing or a bad thing,” Lt. Joshua Marigoni, sheriff’s corrections spokesperson, said in an interview. “Well, we’re putting people into the military at 17 and 18 years old, and the (corrections division) is often considered a paramilitary organization.”

Marigoni said the sheriff’s office is confident there will be many good candidates in the younger pool. “There’s always the possibility that one might not be ready, but we have a vetting process,” he said. The routine includes a rigorous interview process and, after hiring, a probationary period.

Corrections deputies, like police officers and emergency dispatchers, much attain certification from the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Division, or POST.

New deputies go through a 14-week training regimen to achieve POST certification, Marigoni said. The first part of the training “lays the foundation for the job, explains the laws and explains why we do what we do and how to do it lawfully,” he said.

The second part of the training covers everything else about corrections, such as working in the jail and dealing with inmates, Marigoni said, noting that prisoners are not afforded some of their rights, such as privacy and freedom from search and seizure.

While corrections jobs have been considered a stepping stone for some into patrol or detective assignments, Marigoni said, it will be somewhat different for the hires of 19-year-olds, because those careers still remain off limits until age 21.

Even so, the young hires will be able to interact with other elements of the sheriff’s office, such as crime scene investigations and the enforcement division. Marigoni said it’s a reality that corrections divisions lose many younger employees to other agencies or jobs elsewhere in the sheriff’s office, although many, such as him, make a career of corrections.

According to the county human resources website, starting corrections officers are paid $23.21 an hour, plus benefits.