First Sergeant Dave Bursten says there are a few prerequisites for potential candidates.

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, have a valid driver’s license, have a minimum education level of a high school diploma or GED, and have vision correctable to 20/50. Recruits must also be at least 21 years of age by the time academy starts and not have turned 40 by the date of their appointment.

Bursten says events like the line-of-duty death of Indianapolis Metro Police Officer David Moore can have a mixed effect on recruitment. Some people feel the call to serve grow stronger in such a tragedy while others are swayed away from it when the dangers of the job become reality.

The only way to submit an application is online at www.in.gov/isp under career opportunities. Bursten says the application takes about an hour to complete, and urges interested persons not to wait until the last minute.

The 13-week session is open to any resident or business owner in Sandwich 18 years old or older. Topics covered will include criminal law, constitutional law, use of force, patrol procedures and firearms safety.

Field trips to the Barnstable County Correctional Facility and Barnstable District Court are also planned. Students in the academy are also given the chance to ride along on a four-hour patrol shift.

Applications are available at the Sandwich Police Department’s dispatch window. The deadline to register is Feb. 28 and classes begin March 10.

There will be a graduation April 14 for the academy students and their families.

“This is a course we run for 18-and-older citizens of Coppell or people who work in Coppell,” Officer R.J. Harr said. “It gives them a chance to see what we [the police] do on a daily basis.”

The Coppell Citizen’s Police Academy was created to build a bond of mutual trust and respect between the police department and the community.

The goal of the program is to reduce perceived suspicions and misconceptions by establishing that mutual trust and cooperation between police and the residents of Coppell.

Each week, different areas of law enforcement are covered. This allows residents to acquire a working knowledge of the activities the Coppell police officers perform.

“Different classes are presented each night during the 11 weeks,” Harr said. “Each night we present blocks of instruction – from the K-9 group, how to do a building search, traffic stops, defensive tactics, handcuffing, baton training and more. We kind of show them what police work is all about.”

The structure of the police department is explained and the instructors reveal the mindset of the police.

“The hands-on parts of the program really help to teach people what police work is all about,” Harr said.

Experienced police officers provide the presentations and demonstrations and engage in discussions with the class about police operations. Class members are given guided tours of police headquarters, the jail and the communications department.

“When we get to building searches and we tell them, ‘Here is a house, you don’t know if anyone is in there, go in and search it,’ a lot of them will look at me and ask if we really do this kind of thing,” Harr said. “I tell them we do it every day.”

There is also an opportunity to take part in more hands-on training that is required of new police recruits.

“The highlight of the course is doing a ride-along with an officer,” he said. “We actually stick them in a ride-along with an officer on patrol.”

The ride-along program gives the students the feeling of what an officer has to do. It is a sort of “day in the life of a Coppell police officer,” Harr said.

At the beginning of the program, the police department was running two programs annually, but now there is only one a year.

“After 12 years we have had more than 100 students participate in the program,” Harr said. “This year we have 10 signed up, and we generally take 15, so there is still room for more students.”

The course has drawn city employees, businessmen, retirees, parents and others.

“This is another program we do that has had great response,” he said. “We even have an alumni organization for graduates called the Coppell Police Academy Coppell – or CPAC – which we pull volunteers from.”

To be eligible to participate, class members must be 18 years of age, have a good standing in the community and pass a background investigation. Applications can be downloaded from the city’s website at www.coppelltx.gov or picked up at the Coppell Police Department.

The police recruits have completed 1,088 hours of police training over 27 weeks.

City of Amarillo Municipal Court Judge Donna Clayton will swear in the 11 new officers during the graduation ceremony. The new officers will be assigned to Uniform Division and will continue training while riding with a field-training officer for the next four months.

APD will have 307 officers when the new recruits are added. APD is conducting background investigations on applicants for the 80th Police Academy set to begin June 2.

The academy program, which will run from Feb. 8 to early May, is designed to foster a better understanding between members of the community and the Charleston Police Department. Students will experience the various roles the police department plays within the community on a daily basis by being given an insider’s look at police work, said Lt. Valerie Strege of the department’s Community Services Division.

Students will experience practical hands-on training with police driving simulators, firearms instruction and an optional ride-along with a patrol officer.

Seasoned officers and guest speakers from different facets of law enforcement teach each classroom session.

Participants will meet every Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m., at the CPD Training Center. They must be at least 18 years old and have no criminal history. There are no physical requirements and there is no cost to attend the program.

“Community involvement is the most powerful tool any law enforcement agency has at its disposal to fight crime,” Strege said. Through the Citizens Police Academy, “people can help make Charleston a safer place to live and work.”

For more information, contact the Community Service Division at 304-348-6411 or fill out an application at www.charlestonwvpolice.org.

The three new officers were all part-time reserve officers with the police department prior to their graduation for academy. According to Cullman Police Chief Kenny Culpepper, the addition of the new officers brings the total number of patrol officers within the department to 30, a good number for a city of Cullman’s size.

“It is hard to pinpoint what the ideal number of officers within the department would be,” said Culpepper. “Sometimes things are quiet and you seem to have too many and other times you need ten times the officers you have, it is a constant balancing act.”

Officers Matt Scholsser, Intae Suh, and Clint Sanford completed their 12-week training at the Northeast Alabama Law Enforcement Academy (LEA) on the satellite campus of Jacksonville State University located in Fort McClellan. The three officers have begun working full time with the city police department this weekend, according to Culpepper.

Schlosser said that his interest in law enforcement has been lifelong but he didn’t pursue it until completing a degree program for a much different field.

“I got a degree in accounting,” he said. “But I don’t think that is for me, I don’t want to sit in a cubicle and work.”

The 24 year old has been working as a reserve officer with the department since January of 2009 and is eager to get out and patrol on his own.

“I’m excited to start working and learning new things,” said Schlosser. “It’s a job where every day is a little different from the last and I like that.”

For Clint Sanford a career in law enforcement is nearly a family tradition.

“I have a lot of family members involved with law enforcement,” he said. “And growing up, I always thought that that’s what I wanted to do with my life.”

The 22 year old completed an associates degree in criminal justice prior to attending the academy and spent time as a reserve officer.

His colleague, 23-year-old Intae Suh, also completed a degree in the law enforcement field — a bachelor’s degree in criminology.

“I’ve always been interested in law enforcement,” said Suh. “I’m excited that I am in the position now to serve the community that I grew up in.”

According to Culpepper, law enforcement agencies in the are hiring more officers now than in the time immediately following the economic slowdown.

“Nationally, law enforcement agencies were forced to make a lot of cuts due to lacking funding over the past few years,” he said. “But as we see the economy come back I think a lot of cities like Cullman will fill many of those positions back.”

* Sam Rolley can be reached by e-mail at srolley@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 225.

During the academy, citizens will get a glimpse into the training and work of law enforcement. The instructors for the citizens police academy are local officers within the Murray Police Department. The class is an instructional and hands-on look into a police officer’s daily activity. Every Monday evening for eight weeks, citizens will explore a different topic of instruction, such as crime scene investigations, and will leave with a better understanding of law enforcement.

The requirements for the Citizens Police Academy are minimal. You must be 21 years or older, and candidates must either live or work in Murray. Also, due to the sensitive information being discussed, a minimal background check will conducted on those who apply. Anyone interested in participating in the class may get an application by visiting the MPD website, www.murrayky.gov/police/cpa.htm or contact Sgt. Tracy Guge at 762-1052 or 753-1621.

The allegations at the police training academy could have far reaching effect. Those cadets, who are now sworn officers, have likely made hundreds of arrests that could be thrown out or have convictions overturned.

“We’re going to have to get our arms around all of that. We’ll make decisions on a case by case basis on which we can go forward with and if necessary which ones we can’t,” said State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey.

Police launched an internal investigation and audit after allegations surfaced that an instructor provided cadets with answers on tests. The probe focuses on 34 officers who graduated in July 2009. All but two now work for Prince George’s County Police. The others are with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police. The union representing officers is reserving judgment.

“As it stands right now, these members are out there, they’re certified, they’re sworn policemen. Their arrests are lawful,” said Vince Canales, president of the Fraternal Order of Police for Prince George’s County officers.

The state’s attorney’s office set up its own task force to review cases. Once the officers are identified, that information by law must be turned over to defense attorneys. Ivey says he’s already notified the public defender’s office and is awaiting more information from the police internal investigation. Ivey admits “it’s possible” there may be hundreds of cases at risk but says “I just don’t know how many cases there are going to be involved in this at this point” until he gets more details.

The police union says an audit by state regulators at the time found no problem, but it only looked at random cadets.

“No one wants to see anyone here that shouldn’t be here and if there’s something found wrong, the department will take the action necessary,” said Canales.

The cheating scandal has the potential to end the career of these officers. Even if they are allowed to remain on the force, defense attorneys will always be able to raise the issue and question their credibility.

The police department could remove the officers from duty and force them to undergo retraining, but no decision has been made. The police department has remained silent on the investigation. Chief Roberto Hylton planned a 5 p.m. press conference, but canceled at the last minute. Instead, the department plans to release a statement later this evening.

Last month, 63 new State Troopers, including two women, graduated from the Kentucky State Police Academy in Frankfort.

That means 27 cadets dropped out of the class during the intensive 23-week training program.

Now, KSP is recruiting a new cadet class, with testing starting Monday at Eastern Kentucky University. But to be tested, your application must be on file at KSP headquarters by tomorrow.

Applicants must be 21, a U.S. citizen, have a good driving record, and have either some college experience, or a high school diploma and military or police experience.