How To Become A Detention Sergeant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a detention sergeant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a detention sergeant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.81 an hour? That's $39,115 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -10% and produce -42,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDetention SergeantUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,115

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate -10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.87%

Asian 0.65%

Black or African American 14.94%

Hispanic or Latino 14.50%

Unknown 3.68%

White 65.37%

Gender

female 26.86%

male 73.14%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.1

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a detention sergeant

Explore detention sergeant education requirements

Most common detention sergeant degrees

Bachelor's

38.8 %

High School Diploma

25.0 %

Associate

17.5 %

Start to develop specific detention sergeant skills

Skills	Percentages
Direct Supervision	30.00%
Booking	19.95%
Emergency Situations	14.68%
Law Enforcement Agencies	9.57%
CPR	8.07%

Complete relevant detention sergeant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New detention sergeants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a detention sergeant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real detention sergeant resumes.

Research detention sergeant duties and responsibilities

Monitor and manage enlisted promotion boards and actions; publish promotion orders for soldiers being promote to SGT and SSG.
Conduct classroom instruction in engagement techniques, limit visibility gunnery, target classification, range determination, and field reconnaissance.
Ensure all ammunition are accounted for upon issuing/receiving from assign officers.

Prepare your detention sergeant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your detention sergeant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a detention sergeant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable detention sergeant resume templates

Build a professional detention sergeant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your detention sergeant resume.