I was talking recently with an old Palm Spring’s Jaycees acquaintance of mine, Michael Hurwitz, who happens to be a lawyer.  It must be in my nature to do so, because I took that opportunity to do a little business networking.  I explained to him that we had an on going recruitment for Deputy Public Defenders in the Desert, and asked if he knew anyone in local private practice who might want to look into this kind of employment opportunity.  As it turned out, he did and took my business card to refer to this person. 

In further conversation I also mentioned the large scale recruiting program we were undertaking for Correctional Deputies and Deputy County Sheriffs for a new jail facility in the San Gorgonio Pass and for Desert positions.  Which lead Mike to comment that if you had just passed the bar and you really wanted to be a Deputy Public Defender, the thing to do would be to work as a Deputy Sheriff, first. 

This is kind of a new spin on career planning, but I guess it has merit.  The more usual route is for people in law enforcement to study to become a lawyer; law students after passing the State Bar Exam want to get right into their profession.  Mike was telling me that with the courts as clogged as they are most of the legal work is in criminal rather than civil court.  Anyway there might be some sort of Win-Win you could achieve from this. 

If you were a citizen, you would want your police force well grounded in the law.  Not only to effectively execute their criminal investigation and arrest duties, but to also be observant of your civil liberties.  In this same vein, I imagine that if you were ever in need of a criminal defense attorney, you would certainly want that person to be familiar with the inner workings of the Sheriff or Police Department; which is to say the criminal justice system. 

To really look at the situations this discussion raises we need a good definition of Criminal Justice, Civil Law, and Law and Order.  From Wikipedia in pertinent portion comes their description of each: 

Criminal justice is the system of practices, and organizations, used by national and local governments, directed at maintaining social control, deter and controlling crime, and sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties. The primary agencies charged with these responsibilities are law enforcement (police and prosecutors), courts, defense attorneys and local jails and prisons which administer the procedures for arrest, charging, adjudication and punishment of those found guilty. 

When processing the accused through the criminal justice system, government must keep within the framework of laws that protect individual rights. The pursuit of criminal justice is, like all forms of "justice," "fairness" or "process," essentially the pursuit of an ideal. Throughout history, criminal justice has taken on many different forms which often reflect the cultural mores of society.

Civil law or Romano-Germanic law or Continental law is the predominant system of law in the world. Civil law as a legal system is often compared with common law. The main difference that is usually drawn between the two systems is that common law draws abstract rules from specific cases, whereas civil law starts with abstract rules, which judges must then apply to the various cases before them.

Civil law has its roots in Roman law, Canon law and the Enlightenment, alongside influences from other religious laws such as Islamic law.   The legal systems in many civil law countries are based around one or several codes of law, which set out the main principles that guide the law. The most famous example is perhaps the French Civil Code, although the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (or BGB) and the Swiss Civil Code are also landmark events in the history of civil law. The civil law systems of Scotland and South Africa are uncodified, and the civil law systems of Scandinavian countries remain largely uncodified.  

 Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf. It has been broadcast on NBC since its debut on September 13, 1990. Set in New York City, the series mainly follows the professional lives of several police officers and prosecutors who represent the public interest in the criminal justice system. The characters frequently encounter dilemmas and frustrations as cases go through the stages of investigation, arrest, negotiation and trial. Matters are rarely resolved easily or satisfactorily for the people involved.

The success of the series has led to the creation of additional shows under the Law & Order franchise. It is the longest-running primetime drama currently on American television.

We pretty much have you covered no matter which career you want to pursue, whether it is the Sheriff’s Department, or the Office of the Public Defender as a Deputy.  Now if you want to be involved in filmmaking you will have to decide which side of the camera you want to be sitting on, because we now have a film production unit within the Human Resources Department. 

The Media/Communications Coordinator and the Media Production Specialists work behind the camera and are permanent employees.  To the contrary, actors are hired for specific jobs, and may be waiting tables in between.