VET-TO-LEO
Kern County Sheriff's Office logo

Kern County Sheriff's Office

Bakersfield, California · Sheriff's Office · 566 officers

About Kern County Sheriff's Office

The Kern County Sheriff's Office polices more than 8,000 square miles of California, from the oil fields and farm towns around Bakersfield to the mountains, lakes and high desert. It serves over 925,000 people and employs about 1,318 people, including 566 deputies at the end of 2025. Headquarters is on Norris Road in Bakersfield, and the county has 13 substations, among them Delano, Taft, Lamont, Frazier Park, Tejon, Kern Valley, Ridgecrest, Glennville, Tehachapi, Mojave, Rosamond and Boron.

Staffing has been climbing. The office hired 73 new deputies in 2025, matching its best year, for a net gain of 20 after gains of 30 in 2023 and 29 in 2024. Beyond patrol there's an Investigations Bureau with homicide, rural crime, special victims and crime scene units, plus search and rescue, tactical response teams and an Air Support Unit that trains its own pilots to fly eight aircraft.

New hires come in as Deputy Sheriff Trainees and attend the Sheriff's Academy at the Regional Training Center, then move into field training as probationary deputies. Lateral deputies need a California Peace Officer Standards and Training academy or certificate and serve a 12-month probation. A transition program lets employees move between classifications, such as from Detentions Deputy to Deputy Sheriff.

Deputies get a $15,000 recruitment and retention bonus on appointment, a take-home patrol car once assigned to patrol, and $2,000 a month in housing allowance for living in outlying areas like Kern Valley, Mojave, Boron, Ridgecrest, Rosamond and Frazier Park.

Pay and benefits

  • Salary: $49,728 - $59,424
  • Signing bonus: $15,000 recruitment and retention bonus paid on appointment to Deputy Sheriff, tied to a five-year service commitment (prorated repayment if you leave early). The recruiting site also advertises lateral and relocation bonuses.
  • Education incentive: Peace Officer Standards and Training certificate pay: 5% for the Basic certificate, 5% for Intermediate and 7% for Advanced.
  • Retirement: Other - Deputies are safety members of the Kern County Employees' Retirement Association, a county defined benefit pension; new members hired since 2013 fall under the state's Public Employees' Pension Reform Act tiers. A deferred compensation plan is offered, and longevity pay adds 2% of base at 10 years, rising to 10% at 30 years.
  • Benefits: Signing Bonus, Housing Assistance, Take-Home Vehicle, Competitive Pay, Specialty Unit Opportunities, Lateral Transfer Program

Open positions at Kern County Sheriff's Office

Recruiters

  • Tami Root, Administrative Coordinator / Recruiter

Agency website: https://www.kernsheriff.org/