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[Text overlay: "What skills do you need to be a Sheriff's Officer?"]
[Text overlay: Brendan Facey, Sheriff of Victoria"] To be a Sheriff’s Officer, you don’t need to have a background in law enforcement.
What you do need is to have exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
You need to be adaptable and able to deal with challenging situations.
You need have sound problem solving skills and be resilient and able to manage conflict and de-escalate situations.
You need to have the ability to exercise tact, discretion and have sound judgement.
You need to be able to take into account the cultural diversity of all Victorian citizens.
Before working as a Sheriff’s Officer, I was providing communication and administration support to the Department of Justice.
It's very important working in this role, I had to apply policy and adhere to procedures.
Good communication and attention to detail were the important skills, relevant to bring across to my job as a Sheriff’s Officer.
Before becoming a Sheriff’s Officer, I was working in the Defence Force.
Working in the Defence Force, I developed such skills as teamwork, problem solving, verbal communication and conflict resolution.
These skills are very important when working as a Sheriff’s Officer.
To be successful obtaining a career as a Sheriff’s Officer, you need to complete a rigorous selection process.
This includes meeting key eligibility criteria and an application process.
From this, you may be invited to an interview and to complete assessments.
If you are short-listed for a Sheriff’s Officer position, you are required to undertake a medical assessment.
It is important to make sure you are medically able to meet the requirements of the Sheriff’s Officer role.
If you are successful, you commence as a trainee Sheriff's Officer.
You need to complete 12 weeks of Pre-Service Training and undertake Certificate IV (four) in Government (Court Compliance).
The training is specific to Sheriff’s Officer role, and is both classroom and practical-based training.
The training requires commitment. I found it intense and challenging.
To succeed, you need to successfully complete assessments and tests. This is important so you can learn and apply policy and procedures when you are out in the field.
Once you are out in the field by yourself you can’t rely on your books.
Importantly, you do get paid during your Pre-Service Training.
The best part of the job is that I work outdoors and no day is ever the same.
Generally, in the morning, I come into work, collect my car, plan my day, and go and execute warrants by myself.
In the afternoon, I can meet up with another team member and we conduct some wheel clamping in shopping centres.
When my friends ask me about the job, I tell them it is quite challenging, however I do work in a great team. It is a supportive environment.
I feel like there is a sense of purpose to what I do.
I make people accountable by enforcing payment on their warrants.
Sometimes, defendants tell me that they are quite grateful they have finalised their warrants.