BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

WILLIAMSON — The Mingo County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) has scheduled testing for a potential list for hiring future deputies.

Chief Field Deputy Allen Mounts said the application period opened on Jan. 2 and will continue through Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. Applicants can pick up an application at the MCSD office at the Mingo County Courthouse.

The application should be completed and turned in to the sheriff’s department prior to the deadline. This will be followed by a physical agility test, a written civil service test, job interviews and a psychiatric evaluation. After being hired, probationary deputies must also attend and graduate from the West Virginia Police Academy located at Institute, W.Va.

Here are some of the incentives:

• Starting pay of more than $38,000

• Insurance

• Four-day workweek with 10-hour shifts

“We currently do not have any openings in the department, but we have several deputies who are ready to retire,” Sheriff Joe Smith said. “We want to have a list of qualified people ready to be hired once these openings become available.

Applicants who pass the physical skills component will then move on to take the state-mandated civil service test, do job interviews and have background checks. Once hired, the new officers will be scheduled for basic police training at the West Virginia State Police Academy.

The physical agility test has three components:

• Pushups; used to measure upper body endurance and strength

• Situps; used to measure abdominal endurance

• 1.5-mile run; used to measure cardiovascular capacity

Applicants must be able to complete 18 “properly executed” pushups within one minute. They must also be able to do 28 situps within 60 seconds and to be able to complete a 1.5-mile run within 14 minutes and 36 seconds.

Each section of the physical agility examination will be graded on a pass/fail basis. To move on to the next phase of the application process, applicants must pass all sections. The physical agility tests will be administered on Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. and Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. at the Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College Armory Building.

“It is a great job and I have been personally blessed for more than 20 years,” Sheriff Smith said. “It has fed my family and it allowed me to stay here at home when I didn’t want to work in the coal mines. It is a dependable job with a steady paycheck.”