After being closed for several years, the Columbus Police Academy is back in business. The academy opened its doors in May to offer its services to area residents participating in a citizens academy.
“The citizens academy is going really well,” Columbus Police Department Chief Selvain McQueen said. “It allows regular citizens to get some police training and to become more knowledgeable of police procedures. They get to go on a ride-along with actual officers. It’s a 10-week program. We are about half way through with the first class.”
While McQueen is happy to tout the alleged success of the citizens academy, it’s the re-launching of the academy for part-time officers he’s sees as the most beneficial to the city.
“Our part-time or reserve officers help us out big time,” McQueen said. “They are indispensable.”
McQueen said part-time officers have the same arrest powers as full-time officers when they are on duty.
While full-time officers are required to receive 400 hours of training in order to be certified, CPD Director of Training Elizabeth Patrick said part-time officers only have to complete 22 hours.
“We have seven officers currently going through our academy,” Patrick said. “Three of them are from Monroe County and we have four from the Columbus Police Department. The part-time officers will go through the same training as a full-time officer. We opened the academy June 5 and this class will graduate December 4. The classes are held from 7-9 p.m. on Tuesdays and we will also have some classes on Saturdays. Our graduates will receive about 220 hours of training.”
There are currently five full-time academies in the state according to copcareer.com. They are located in Tupelo, Moorhead, Pearl and Jackson. McQueen said lower cost is another key component to the newly opened academy.
“This is a very cost-effective way to train our part-time officers,” he said. “It costs right around $3,000 to send an officer to an academy. We can eliminate this cost at least for our part time officers. Also the attendees from out of town will be paying us for their training and they will be spending money while they are here in Columbus.”
One of McQueen’s long-term goals is to have all of his ranking officers certified as academy instructors.
“I am certified to teach anywhere in the state,” said McQueen. “I’m currently one of the instructors at our academy. I hope to one day have all of my ranking officers certified to be instructors. I also hope to one day have a full-time academy like they have in Tupelo. When we hire a new recruit, it costs about $50,000 to get them up and running in the first year. We could eliminate a lot of costs by having our own full-time academy.”
Patrick said she has received a lot of inquiries about the academy and she expects to have a “full class” during the next session. The police academy class is expected to get underway in January or February.
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