Academy Instructors

Comment by Ralph L. Sorensen on March 31, 2009 at 1:12pm

Howdy,
I'm a retired officer with 32 years working municipal departments here in Michigan. I've been teaching firearms for the Delta Police Academy through Delta College here in mid-Michigan since I retired 6 years ago.
I teach handgun, shotgun and rifle to new recruits. I really enjoy teaching firarms to the recruits and it is very rewarding.

We usually have between 25 to 35 students in each class. The class going on now only has 8 students. Our low enrollment rate mirrors the few police jobs opening up in Michigan as well as current economic conditions. I wonder if you other academy instructors are having similiar low enrollments?

Comment by Jason Tlusty on March 31, 2009 at 3:00pm

I am a part-time (on my days off) Firearms Instructor at the police academy, in Oregon. To date, we have not had a drop in students (students only attend the academy after being hired by a police agency). However with budget shortfalls, the state may reduce the number of classes attending the academy.

Comment by Aaron Brill on March 31, 2009 at 3:08pm

We had two academy classes cancelled this year (which would have been about 60 recruits total) due to economic/political pressures. Our academy is just for recruits hired by Denver, no outside recruits. We are looking at making a multi-jurisdictional academy though.

Comment by Ken Herbert on March 31, 2009 at 3:16pm

In Illinois we were down statewide about 50% on attendance in both law enforcement and corrections academies in 2008. At our academy we say a 15% decrease last year and it looks like an even bigger decrease for this year.

Comment by Dan Christman on April 11, 2009 at 5:21pm

Hello to all. I am new to the group, a full-time municipal cop and adjunct instructor in Criminal Investigations (Death Investigation) at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission since 1998. Our academy is going strong, but probably like you, over the past few years it has become tough for us to find good L.E. recruits.

Comment by Curtis J. (Jeff) Cope on April 11, 2009 at 7:29pm

Budget issues are hitting all 39 academies in California. It is going to be difficult to maintain the numbers of classes throughout the State. In addition, I am seeing agencies faced with hiring freezes as well as personnel being laid off. One City in Northern California has declared itself insolvent.

Comment by Ronald H. Runyon on April 14, 2009 at 8:56pm

Hello. I am new to the group. I teach EVOC at our academy and also at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy. I am an adjunct instructor at Cleveland State Community College's Law Enforcement Academy. Our academy is new and has produced 4 classes so far.

Comment by Michael J. Genau on April 16, 2009 at 9:48am

Just signed up. Have been a deputy for 27 yrs in Virginia and have been a General Instructor since 1985 and a F/A instructor since 1986

Comment by Joe VanSeeters on April 16, 2009 at 11:42pm

Hi all, just joined the group. I have been in LE for 25+ years. I have been an active instructor at our Academy since 1991. Teach generally Traffic related topics, but have taught general Police subjects in the past as well. Served as an F.T.O. in the past and also serve as an Adjunct Instructor for several outside agencies as well. I am a certified instructor through our State Police & Correctional Training Commission also. I also served as a Drill Instructor with our Academy for four years. (1994 through 1997). My unit instructs every recruit academy in all traffic topics and we generally have the recruits for about 1 month straight.

Comment by Joe VanSeeters on April 16, 2009 at 11:56pm

We are feeling the pain of the economy as well in Maryland. We generally ran two academies per year which were usually full (About 30 recruits). Now we haven't even run an academy in about a year and a half. We are SUPPOSED to start one on June 1st but that may even change. Our academy runs for 28 weeks plus three months on FTO and then one month SOLO on as a "back up" deputy ONLY, not a primary on the call. Generally a new deputy is not cut loose as an assigned "sector" deputy for about one year from the date of hire. It is pretty intense initial training in Maryland. I am proud to say, that they really take it pretty seriously in "initial" training and it is a very good foundation. By the time a deputy is assigned a sector, they are fairly well trained and most deputies have handled most type of calls with their FTO or as a "back-up" and feel confident in taking their assigned calls. We are pretty spread out although we are the largest Sheriff's Office in Maryland. We run 10 sectors throughout the County and then many "sub" posts (or zones) within the main 10 sectors. Our County is "split" in two. Two Precincts. One North/One South. Separate channels for each precinct. Generally about 20 deputies working the County per shift plus supervisors between both of the precincts combined but it varries up and down depending on what day of week it is and what specialized units (Traffic, K9, School Resource, Community Policing, Gang Unit, CID, Civil Section, etc) During day shift, we could have any where between 85 to 100 deputies working between all the divisions. We are the primary agency in the entire County. You may have a couple State Troopers but they generally handle crashes on State Highway's ONLY. Not much criminal complaints at all anymore. We do have three small city police departments also who work a few officers per shift within their respective cities.

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