Sheriff's Lieutenant - Promotional

Full Job Description

This recruitment is promotional only. You must presently be a full or part-time regular or probationary County of Sonoma, Community Development Commission, Sonoma County Fairgrounds, or Sonoma County Water Agency employee in order to apply for this position.

The Sheriff's Office has requested a department promotional certification to fill a Sheriff's Lieutenant position.

Only qualified permanent and/or probationary Sheriff's Office employees on the eligible list may be eligible for referral to the department for the advertised position.

This employment list may also be used to fill future full-time positions as they occur during the active status of the list.

Under the general direction of a commanding officer, Sheriff's Lieutenants are directly responsible for the overall function of their assigned bureau, units, and/or teams. As the second supervisory level in the Sheriff's Office, Lieutenants perform a variety of administrative and management duties related to their assigned programs, including researching, developing, and implementing goals, objectives, policies, and procedures; developing and administering program budgets; coordinating shift planning; scheduling and training personnel; conducting performance evaluations; and investigating and evaluating citizen complaints and policy and procedure violations.

Sheriff's Office Selection Process

Oral Board interviews and practical testing are tentatively scheduled for:

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Final Selection Interviews:

Week of May 18th, 2026

Application submissions require the Supplemental Questionnaire to be completed.

Requirements

Experience: Five years of recent, full-time, paid experience as a law enforcement officer with a city, county, state or federal police agency, including two years at a first line supervisory level. (Experience as a member of a police unit in the armed forces will not qualify.)

Education: Graduation from high school or possession of an accredited General Education Development Certificate (GED) and possession of an Advanced Law Enforcement Certificate awarded by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) of the State of California.

License: Possession of a valid California driver's license at the appropriate level including necessary special endorsements, as required by the State of California to perform the essential job functions of the position. The position advertised on this announcement requires possession of a valid California Driver’s License

Citizenship Requirement: Permanent resident aliens who wish to be employed as peace officers must apply for citizenship prior to application for such employment. Permanent resident aliens must cooperate with the U.S. Department of Immigration in meeting all requirements for U.S. citizenship, or he or she shall be disqualified for peace officer status.

Background Requirement: Incumbents shall not have been convicted of a felony in this state or any other state or in any federal jurisdiction, or of any offense in any other state or in any federal jurisdiction, which would have been a felony if committed in this state, nor be under current formal probation supervision.

Qualifications

Thorough knowledge of: the principles and practices of modern law enforcement administration; patrol functions, criminal investigation and general police administration; court procedures in criminal and civil trials; laws, ordinances, rules and regulations enforced by the department; the use and care of firearms.

Considerable knowledge of: the geography and topography of Sonoma County; criminal attitudes and behavior patterns and the social factors underlying criminal behavior.

Working knowledge of: modern principles and practices of employee supervision.

Knowledge of: recent developments, current literature, sources of information of criminal investigation procedures, police patrol practices, juvenile delinquency and narcotic problems.

Ability to: analyze law enforcement problems and to adopt an effective course of action; plan, supervise, instruct and direct the work of subordinates; speak and write effectively and deliver public presentations; obtain the cooperation of subordinates and to enforce discipline effectively and reasonably; make quick, effective and reasonable decisions in emergencies and to take appropriate action; enforce the law firmly, tactfully and impartially and to deal courteously with the general public.

Additional Information

• Your application information and your responses to the supplemental questions are evaluated and taken into consideration throughout the entire selection process.
• You should list all employers and positions held within the last ten years in the work history section of your application. Be as thorough as possible when responding to the supplemental questions.
• You may include history beyond ten years if related to the position for which you are applying. If you held multiple positions with one employer, list out each position separately.
• Failure to follow these instructions may impact your competitiveness in this process or may result in disqualification.

Please visit Getting a Job with the County of Sonoma to review more detailed information about the hiring process, including the application process, examination steps, and department selection process.

Application submissions require the Supplemental Questionnaire to be completed.

Responses to supplemental questions may be scored using position-specific criteria.

Please provide specific and detailed responses of a reasonable length to allow for a thorough assessment of your qualifications.

Responses that state, "See Resume" or "See Application" may be considered insufficient and therefore may not be scored.

The selection procedure will consist of the following examination:

An Application and Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination (weight 100%) will be conducted to evaluate each applicant's application and supplemental questionnaire for satisfaction of minimum qualifications (pass/not pass); and for educational coursework, training, experience, knowledge, and abilities which relate to this position.

Personally identifiable information (PII) is removed from the standard application fields and applicable attachments.

This PII blind screening practice redacts a candidate’s personal information that could potentially influence or bias the scoring process.

Personal information includes the applicant’s name, former last name, address, phone number, email, driver's license number, school name, education start and end dates, age, date of birth, gender, and race.

This PII blind screening practice helps contribute to a fair and equitable examination process.

Each applicant will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Relevance of work history, related experience, and achieved level of education and/or training as described in the application and responses to the supplemental questions.

Candidates demonstrating possession of the minimum qualifications will be placed on an employment list in order of most qualified to least qualified based on the achieved score received in the Application and Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination which evaluates the education, training, experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, and other qualifications that you demonstrate in your application and/or response to the supplemental questionnaire.

Please be aware that resumes and cover letters are not typically evaluated in the Application and Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal Examination.

Scores may be adjusted based on such factors as the number of candidates, anticipated vacancies, past practice, and natural breaks in the scores achieved by this group of candidates.

Sheriff's Office Selection Process

Oral Board interviews and practical testing are tentatively scheduled for:

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Final Selection Interviews:

Week of May 18th, 2026

Additional Information

Being part of the Sheriff's Office and being expected to keep the public safe requires a thorough background investigation process.

This process includes an assessment of prior work history, verifying educational experiences, court reports, public records searches, and understanding past patterns relating to drug usage, financial patterns, etc.

This entails gathering a significant amount of information from job candidates and speaking to former employers, friends, family members, etc.

Polygraphs, drug tests, and medical and physical examinations are also part of this process. Candidates must be honest and forthcoming about information that may arise during the background process.

Deception during any portion of this process is grounds for disqualification, even after employment. This process can take anywhere from 3-5 months.

Many factors are taken into consideration and one should not assume a credit issue or prior drug use is automatically disqualifying.

Candidates will be given the opportunity to present mitigating information they feel should be considered.

You are encouraged to be as responsive as possible while this process is taking place to help expedite the timeline, and we encourage you to stay patient and interested in this great career opportunity while this process is taking place.

You may also review the Job Classification Screening Schedule to determine the requirements for this position.

Please read the Sheriff's Office Pre-Employment Drug Use Guidelines for further information.

How to Apply

Applications are accepted online at www.yourpath2sonomacounty.org. Paper applications may be submitted by person, fax (707-565-3770), email, or through the mail.

All applications and appropriate supplemental information as outlined in the job announcement must be received by the time and date specified on the first page of this job announcement.

Applications received after the recruitment closes will not be accepted.

The County of Sonoma values diversity and is dedicated to creating a workplace environment that provides individuals with a sense of belonging.

We are committed to having a diverse workforce that is representative of the communities we serve.

The County is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer where all aspects of employment are based on merit, competence, performance, and business need.

HR Analyst: KK

HR Technician: NM