Detention officer resume examples from 2026
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How to write a detention officer resume
Craft a resume summary statement
Your resume summary sums up your experience and skills, making it easy for hiring managers to understand your qualifications at a glance. Here are some tips to writing the most important 2-4 sentences of your resume:
Step 1: Start with your professional title, or the one you aspire to.
Step 2: Detail your years of experience in detention officer-related roles and your industry experience.
Step 3: What are your biggest professional wins? Here is your opportunity to highlight your strongest accomplishments by placing them at the start of your resume.
Step 4: Don't forget, your goal is to summarize your experience. Keep it short and sweet, so it's easy for recruiters to quickly understand why you're a great hire.
These four steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some detention officer interviews.Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.
List the right project manager skills
Many resumes are filtered out by hiring software before a human eye ever sees them. A robust Skills section can let recruiters (and bots) know you have the skills to do the job. Here is how to make the most of your skills section:
- You often need to include the exact keywords from the job description in your resume. Look at the job listing and consider which of the listed skills you have experience with, along with related skills.
- Include as many relevant hard skills and soft skills as possible from the listing.
- Use the most up to date and accurate terms. Don't forget to be specific.
Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on a detention officer resume:
- Detention Facility
- Direct Supervision
- Booking
- Law Enforcement
- CPR
- Security Checks
- Emergency Situations
- Incident Reports
- Head Counts
- Control Room
- Defensive Tactics
- Alertness
- Jail Facility
- County Jail
- Medical Appointments
- Computer System
- Transport Inmates
- Security Equipment
- Radio Channels
- Inmate Movement
- Radio Communications
- Electronic Equipment
- Court Appearances
- Inmate Property
- Medical Emergencies
- Pepper Spray
- Strip Searches
- Release Orders
- Resuscitation
- Logbook Entries
Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.
How to structure your work experience
A work experience section is a vital part of your resume because it shows you have the experience to succeed in your next job.
- Put your most recent experience first. Prospective employers care about your most recent accomplishments the most.
- Put the job title, company name, city, and state on the left. Align dates in month and year format on the right-hand side.
- Include only recent, relevant jobs. This means if you're a fairly experienced worker, you might need to leave off that first internship or other positions in favor of highlighting more pertinent positions.
How to write detention officer experience bullet points
Your resume is not a list of responsibilities or a job description. Instead, it is your chance to show your accomplishments and show why you're good at what you do.
- Use the What, How, and Why format. Answering these questions turns a bland job description into an effective showcase of your abilities.
- What were your responsibilities or goals?
- How did you accomplish them?
- Why were your results important? (How did it impact your company? Can you quantify the results in numbers? )
Here are great bullet points from detention officer resumes:
Work history example #1
Detention Officer
Maricopa County Attorneys Office
- Obtained CPR and Basic First Aid Certification.
- Received a Unit Citation for returning Accreditation to Clinical Health Services CPR/First Aid certifications
- Provided care, custody, and control of sentenced and non sentenced inmates.
Work history example #2
Detention Officer
Mississippi Department of Education
- Maintained safe and transparent custody of detainees in the Department of Defense's only intermittent facility.
- Initiated command, control and communications solutions to develop regional integrated operations which have been sustained for over a decade.
- Provided security in program activities and supervised labor crews in various areas around facility.
- Earned Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certification.
- Released inmates back into the community in better condition psychologically and medically than when they came into custody.
Work history example #3
Jailer
California Department of Rehabilitation
- Earned Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certification.
- Required to acquire and maintain CPR, First Aid and Weapons Qualifications as well as professional development courses.
- Provided security in program activities and supervised labor crews in various areas around facility.
- Maintained weapons safety; secured inmate property and returned upon release from custody.
- Provided custody and security of offenders including observing actions of offenders.
Work history example #4
Detention Officer
Arkansas Department of Transportation
- Assisted firearms instructors for detention and deportation.
- Earned Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Certification.
- Maintained weapons safety; secured inmate property and returned upon release from custody.
- Managed 88 guards in Tikrit Detention Facility.
- Transported and admitted prisoners in and out of custody Learned the ability to work in a structured environment.
Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.
Add an education section to your resume
- The highest degree you have achieved.
- TWhere you attended school, and the dates (Although if you graduated some time ago, leave the date off to avoid ageism)
- TField of study
- TAny honors, relevant coursework, achievements, or pertinent activities
Here are some examples of good education entries for resumes:
Certificate in general studies
Texas A&M University - Central Texas, Killeen, TX
2009 - 2010
Highlight your detention officer certifications on your resume
If you have any additional certifications or education-like achievements, add them to the education section.
Start simple. Include the full name of the certification. It's also good to mention the organization that issued the certification. Next, specify when you obtained the certification.
If you have any of these certifications, be sure to include them on your detention officer resume:
- Certified Corrections Officer (CCO)
- First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor
- Security 5 Certification
- OSHA Safety Certificate
- Certified Jail Officer (CJO)
- Certified Security Supervision & Management (CSS)
- Instructor
- Basic Life Support (BLS)
- Communications Training Officer (CTO)
- Microsoft Office Specialist: Expert (Office 365 and Office 2019)