The Northern Region of the Division of Adult Parole operates under the auspices of the Colorado Department of Corrections and is headquartered in Westminster. Colorado’s Northern Judicial Region includes the following field offices:
Sponsored School(s)
- Fort Collins (responsible for supervision of parolees in Jackson and Larimer Counties),
- Westminster (supervises parolees in Northern Jefferson, Broomfield and Adams Counties),
- Sterling (responsible for parolees in Yuma, Washington, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips and Morgan Counties), Greeley (supervises Eastern and Northern Weld County),
- Longmont (supervises parolees in Boulder and Southern Weld County).
Parole officers could be located within any of these offices in the Northern Region, although the Fort Collins office supports more jobs than any other.
Steps to Become a Fort Collins Parole Officer
Education and Experience – Parole officer careers in Fort Collins require candidates to have a bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as criminal justice, business, human behavior or law enforcement. Experience in counseling, social work, or law enforcement may be substituted for the education requirement (one year of experience replaces one year of education).
How to Apply – When parole officer jobs in Fort Collins are available, they will be viewable on the COJobs website, which serves as the state government’s job website. All interested persons who meet the education requirements must apply online to become parole officers in Fort Collins. The hiring process will include oral examinations and interviews, physical and psychological testing, drug tests, and background investigations.
Training – Before becoming a parole officer in Fort Collins, candidates must have received a Colorado Peace Officer Standards Training (POST) certificate. Ideally, this is done before applying to become a parole officer through training in Fort Collins. POST certification will include passing written and oral examinations, polygraph exam, physical exam, drug test, physical agility test and psychological exam. POST training will include the basics of law enforcement as well as firearms, self-defense skills and first aid/CPR courses.
After being hired as a parole officer in Fort Collins, basic training will take place for 20 days at the Colorado Department of Corrections Basic Training Academy in Canon City.
Continuing Education – Each year, parole officers in Fort Collins must complete 40 hours of continuing education training. Firearms qualification and CPR certification must also be maintained.
Working in Fort Collins
As the county seat of Larimer County, Fort Collins is a busy city that can present opportunities for those seeking parole officer jobs. The city of Fort Collins maintains an interactive Crime Map online, showing police activity in the city’s neighborhoods over a specified period of time. Crime trends over the past year in Fort Collins have shown that the city’s police officers were called mostly to resolve issues related to property crimes, disorder, and violent crimes. It is the job of Fort Collins’ parole officers to reduce the occurrence of criminal activity among those who have been incarcerated for such crimes.