Park Hills passed a resolution Monday night in conjunction with Fort Wright and Covington to support building a new police training facility in Northern Kentucky.
Police agencies across the state are reporting that they are routinely being left without trained police officers for at least one year despite the required training period of 20 weeks. The agencies are largely saying this is due to the inaccessibility of training for new recruits.
One of the primary factors contributing to this delay, Park Hills council members discussed at their Monday meeting, is the location of the nearest training facility. It is located at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, a nearly two-hour drive from Park Hills.
The wait time for new recruits is about six months right now.
“We have a police shortage, that’s the problem,” said Mayor Kathy Zembrodt. “It’s like, ’Hey let’s get these guys educated, get ‘em up here. Even for their continuing (education) they have to go down there. My guys go down there and I still have to have someone up here to cover.”
City council members discussed the logistics of the creation of this new facility at the Monday meeting.
Councilman Joe Daugherty asked who would be responsible for paying for this project. Since there has been no action to make this resolution a reality, funding is unclear beyond where it would be coming from — the state.
The location of the new facility was also discussed, with council members posing the idea of adding this facility to NKU’s campus. Other ideas were available land plots in the area, including a farm in Walton.
Zembrodt said she hopes that the solidarity shown between cities in Northern Kentucky on this resolution will give their voice more weight.
“If you have everybody on board, you’ve got a bigger power of arm,” Zembrodt said. “All of Northern Kentucky wants this. You’ve got Boone, Kenton and Campbell. We’re all saying, ‘Hey! We want somewhere close.”
