The Kern County Sheriff’s Office Detentions Bureau-Challenges and Progress-During the Past Twenty Years Throughout the past twenty years the Kern County Sheriff’s Office has continuously applied improved means and methods of, policy and procedure, technology- records and information gathering, addressing risk management and litigation, addressing new legislation, and implementation of inmate programs, and to increase its overall service to the public. During this time, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office has constantly elevated the practice of updating its internal policies and procedures in order to achieve the level of knowledge and application that all staff members need to successfully provide professional custodial services to for the citizens …show more content…
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office Detentions Bureau Jail Needs Assessment Report (2011, Chapter 2, p.51 ,) states the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Detentions Bureau has established a Detentions Bureau Compliance Section that continually reviews, develops, and revises policies to ensure they are consistent with regulations, statutes, and case law. In addition, the Compliance Section conducts performance audits to ensure that actual practices in the jail facilities are consistent with written policy and procedures. These audits provide Kern County Sheriff’s Office detention managers with first-hand information concerning compliance with the established standards. Audits that demonstrate less than desired compliance rates are addressed and later re-audited, giving managers empirical feedback on the effectiveness of their corrective actions (Kern County Sheriff’s Office, Jail Needs Assessment Report …show more content…
In addition to jail security staff, IMS is used by jail clerical, medical, mental health and administrative staff. External users include staff from the following: Probation Department, District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, Bakersfield Police Department, California Highway Patrol (local office), Child Protective Services, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service (KCSO Jail Needs Assessment Report, 2011). Cogent (Mug shot) System: This system records inmate photos, which can be used to create “Wanted” posters or to create photo line-ups. It is also a searchable database – internal and sanctioned external users can conduct person searches based on photos, as well as several categories of identifying characteristics, including tattoos, marks, and scars (KCSO Jail Needs Assessment Report,