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Deputy Careers
Interested in a career as a deputy sheriff in King County? Find out more about entry-level and lateral positions.
The King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) offers countless assignments in addition to patrol, ranging from helicopter pilot to school resource officer.
Applying to become a KCSO Deputy Sheriff is your first step towards an exciting and rewarding law enforcement career serving your community.
Current hiring incentives: $25,000 lateral sign on bonus.
Best in Class Benefits
- 100% employer paid premiums for medical/dental/vision for you and your dependents (on most plans)
- Annual Vacation: 0-5 years=12 paid days increasing to 30 paid days after 26 years!
- 12 paid holidays and 12 paid sick leave days annually
- Liberal accrual of compensation
- Patrol Longevity pay: 2% of base rate after 5 years, increasing up to 16% after 25 years!
- Take home vehicle (potential yearly savings $3000-$5000)
- Basic life insurance, AD&D, EAP, Peer Support Team and many other great benefits!
- LATERAL DEPUTIES:
- Time at prior agencies counts for pay steps, vacation and sick leave accrual
- Time at prior agencies counts for minimum experience required for consideration of specialty assignments
- Accelerated PTO/FTO program
Connect with a recruiter
Exceptional Salaries
2025 Annual pay range: $92,215-129,121 with annual pay increases.
Guild approved pay raises of 4% each year for 2025, 2026 and 2027. Also, an increase of patrol pay of 2.5% in 2026 and 3% in 2027.
|
Step |
pay |
Annual |
Monthly |
Hourly |
|
1 |
<12 months |
$92,215 |
$7,685 |
$43.33 |
|
2 |
12 months |
$103,344 |
$8,612 |
$49.68 |
|
3 |
24 months |
$112,526 |
$9,377 |
$54.10 |
|
4 |
36 months |
$117,727 |
$9,810 |
$56.60 |
|
5 |
48 months |
$122,705 |
$10,225 |
$58.99 |
|
6 |
60 months |
$129,121 |
$10,760 |
$62.08 |
Overtime paid at 1.5 of hourly rate includes all incentives.
Incentive Pay
Incentive pay for education and longevity including:
- Associate’s degree: 2%
- Bachelor’s degree: 4%
- Master’s degree: 6%
- Specialty units: 2%-10%
- Patrol incentive: increase of 2.5% in 2026, 3% in 2027
- Longevity incentive: 2-16% (beginning at year five)
- Foreign language incentive: $0.95 ($1.90 for two or more languages) added to hourly base rate on all compensated hours. *Not all languages apply at this time
Qualifications
- Lawful permanent resident or citizen of the United States
- Ability to read, speak and write English fluently
- At least 20.5 years old (at the time of application)
- Valid Washington State Driver's License
- High School Diploma or GED
- Meet KCSO medical standards
- Pass the background investigation
About Us
KCSO provides the opportunity to work in a large diverse county with 16 different contract cities, including Specialty Units such as TAC-30 (SWAT), Crisis Negotiation Team, Major Crime Detectives, multiple K-9 teams, Air Support Unit, Special Assault Detectives, Marine and Dive Unit, Emergency Driving instructor, Burglary Detectives, Bomb Disposal Unit, Drone Operation, firearm instructors and more.
In addition to great pay and benefits, KCSO offers a sense of belonging, career growth and endless community engagement.
The interactive map below provides more information about each of our facilities (select the star icon for more details about each location).
Ready to join us? Take the first step:
-
Public Safety Test and Physical Ability Test
Sign up for written Public Safety Test (PST) and Physical Ability Test (PAT) at link below. Use code: KCSO2025 to pay for testing fees.
-
Oral board
Once we receive your scores, you will be contacted to schedule an interview
-
Background (estimated 2-8 weeks)
You will be contacted to fill out a background packet.
Tip: the sooner you turn in the packet, the sooner the process begins
-
Captains interview and conditional offer of employment
-
Polygraph, medical, psychological exams
-
Basic Law Enforcement Academy
Once hired, you’ll will attend a course called Pre-BLEA (Basic Law Enforcement Academy) with the department, complete hiring documentation, uniform and gear issue, meet with the guild (union), and take other classes to help prepare you for the academy. All training with us before and after the academy is paid.
Entry level recruiting video
King County Sheriff's Office: Who we are on YouTube
Lateral recruiting video
KCSO Hiring Process: How to become a Lateral Deputy from King County TV on Vimeo.
Hear what our employees have to say about KCSO
Deputy Komal Tamber, KCSO from King County TV on Vimeo.
Deputy Joe Winters, KCSO from King County TV on Vimeo.
Newcastle PD on YouTube
K-9 Unit Focus and Testimonial on YouTube
Our Air Support/Search Rescue Team is world-class. Their mission is to save lives on YouTube