Comments from Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman and Kenton County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Steve Hensley at the Saturday meeting of the Kenton County Mayors Group suggest that Independence city facilities may play host to police instructors in the future.
Reinersman reported that Independence Police Chief Brian Ferayorni had in conversations with the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training pitched the idea of using Independence city facilities, such as the Independence Senior Center, to house in-service training for officers.
Ferayorni did not attend the meeting on Saturday, and discussion on the issue was brief.
The region has struggled with a dearth of police recruits over the past few years, due in part to a basic training backlog and a lack of instructors. Although the instructors discussed at Saturday’s meeting were not basic training instructors, Reinersman expressed optimism that the development signaled progress in the right direction.
“We are well on our way to mitigating this problem,” Reinersman said.
Additionally, the new training academy in Madisonville, which opened last year, may soon be able to provide basic training, which would conceivably ease the backlog.