Career Opportunities

Click here for Downloadable Burke County Sheriff's Office PDF Application

Click here for the Elements of the Hiring Process 

Burke County Sheriff's Office is actively recruiting and seeking qualified candidates for positions within the agency. Applications are now being accepted. Completed applications can be emailed to g.sapp@bcso-ga.org.

Like all law enforcement positions in Georgia, all sheriff's deputy candidates must submit to a complete background check which includes a drug test and voice stress analysis. As far as education, all aspiring deputies must:

• Be a US citizen, either by birth or naturalization by the time of hire
• Be at least 18 years old
• Have an associate degree, OR
• Have two years of work experience as a law enforcement or certified peace officer with full arrest power, OR
• Have the approved combination of education and experience that proves the candidate can successfully perform the required duties of the job.

In order to work as a deputy, aspiring candidates must meet a number of requirements. Although the state has a standard set of requirements for entering recruits, individual agencies often have their own prerequisites candidates must meet in order to be eligible for employment.

• Medical examination, including drug screening
• Psychological screening
• Oral interview
• Background investigation; and
• Testing for deception (Digital Voice Stress Analyzer)

Georgia Peace Officer Requirements

The Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) sets the standards for law enforcement and training in the state. In addition to meeting a number of requirements, all candidates must submit to fingerprinting and an extensive background check. Any candidate with prior felony sentences and/or various misdemeanors convictions is automatically disqualified from service.

According to the state’s requirements, all Georgia peace officers must have a US high school diploma to be eligible for hire. Although not an absolute prerequisite for employment, a two-year associate degree or higher is certainly considered favorable for new recruits in most cases.

Required Examinations

Candidates for Georgia Police Force must take and pass a number of examinations, both written and physical. Once all of the requirements have been met and the exams have been successfully passed, aspiring police officers will be interviewed by the GPSTC Regional Academy where the student will attend training.

For anyone looking to begin a career as a police officer, Georgia is a great place to work in law enforcement. Currently, there are 22,190 active duty cops and sheriff’s deputies working to protect and serve the Georgia population of almost ten million people.