Coosa Valley Technical College Chosen for Basic Law Enforcement Academies Pilot Project
TCSG Announces Basic Law Enforcement Academies Pilot Project
Collaboration will allow law enforcement trainees to continue to their college degree
Atlanta - The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) Commissioner Ron Jackson has announced a pilot project that will allow new law enforcement officers to receive their basic law enforcement training at a state technical college and obtain college credit at the same time.
The project is a collaboration between the TCSG, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC), headed by Director Dale Mann, and the state Peace Officers Standards and Training Council (POST), led by Executive Director Ken Vance.
The pilot program also has the endorsement of the state Board of Public Safety, which has been working steadily over the past year to craft a long-range solution to the need for more space for training of the state’s law enforcement officers.
Under the Basic Law Enforcement Academies Pilot Project, trainees will receive a technical certificate of credit (TCC) after completion of the program. With the TCC in hand, the new law enforcement officers can choose to continue their education toward a degree in criminal justice.
Six technical colleges will participate in the pilot that is set to begin in January 2009: Augusta Tech, Coosa Valley Tech, DeKalb Tech, Ogeechee Tech, Savannah Tech and South Georgia Tech.
Expansion of the program to more of the state technical colleges is possible as the program is evaluated for its level of success. There are 33 colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia.
“This is a win-win-win proposition for the technical colleges, law enforcement and, most of all, the safety of our citizens,” said Jackson. “This new plan opens the door for every trainee to utilize their basic training as part of a seamless education process toward a two-year degree in criminal justice.”
Most trainees, as a student enrolled in college credit courses, will be eligible to receive Georgia HOPE grants and federal Pell grants that will offset the cost of their technical college education.
“A lot of people want to get into law enforcement, but some of the agencies are not hiring or don’t have the funding available to send officers to mandate school. Through our program, HOPE will pay for eligible students to go through the training to get certified then they can be hired by the departments and go to work,” said Tom Bojo, CVTC’s Program Director for Criminal Justice Technology.
“I think the fact that CVTC is one of only six schools to be selected for the Basic Law Enforcement Academies Pilot Project is a testament to the strength of our existing criminal justice program. Our program has gained the reputation of being one of the top two or three criminal justice programs in the state. Tom Bojo has done an outstanding job of building relationships with law enforcement leaders and administrators,” stated CVTC President, Dr. Craig McDaniel.
Back in May, Bojo held an information session for law enforcement professionals from all over Northwest Georgia to gain support for the project.
“We have a strong community that supports CVTC and technical education. The selection committee said they were going to look at what type of support the colleges had, not only internally from the college, but externally from the community. I know that support played a major factor in which colleges were selected,” stated Bojo. “I called on a lot of people, not only in the school, but in the community. This was truly a group effort. Not one individual hesitated for a moment in providing me with what I needed to make this happen.”
CVTC’s Basic Law Enforcement (BLE) program will be located on the Gordon County Campus in the Clarence E. Harris Public Safety Training Wing of Building 300.
In order to create the program, the development team of TCSG, GPSTC, POST, and regional law enforcement academy personnel completed a comparison of curriculum between existing TCSG criminal justice courses and POST Basic Mandate Training. The result showed that a large segment of the basic training content was already being offered in the technical colleges’ criminal justice programs.
In order to fulfill all of the remaining requirements of the state’s Basic Mandate Training, like firearms and driving, the team will incorporate eight additional components into the technical college program over the next six months.
The BLE program will consist of approximately 590 hours. This is an increase in hours over traditional mandate programs, with extra training hours being concentrated in constitutional law, criminal law, ethics, and firearms.
“CVTC’s BLE program will not just meet standards, these classes will have extended hours so that we can turn out officers that exceed minimum training regulations. The more training these officers have, the better prepared they will be out in the field,” commented Bojo.
“The technical colleges have always been the ‘go to’ people when it comes to solving workforce development issues. Once again, the technical colleges have been given the opportunity to assist in alleviating the shortage of criminal justice professionals,” stated McDaniel.
Admission standards will require all students to undergo a thorough background check and adhere to all rules as set forth by the state POST Council. Students will also have to meet minimum scores in English, reading, and math.
The program will take between 16 and 20 weeks to complete. All of the technical college teachers involved in the program will be POST-certified instructors.
“It makes sense to pursue a model like we already have for EMTs, who get their training at a state technical college then come back with their credentials in hand and ready to go to work,” said Mann. “This pilot project has the potential to transform Georgia’s basic law enforcement training system to a new era. In doing so, we’re setting higher standards and parameters for better-trained law enforcement officers and safer communities throughout the state.”
Similar programs already exist in neighboring states like North Carolina and Florida, where 41 of that state’s criminal justice training sites are located in their community colleges and technical institutes.
