Northern Kentucky is getting its own in-service training academy, providing local police departments with the opportunity to localize annual officer training.
On Thursday, police leaders across Northern Kentucky gathered at the Fort Thomas Community Center and Mess Hall where a certificate was presented that bestowed Northern Kentucky with its own in-service training academy.
John Moberly, executive director of the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council, was in Northern Kentucky to present the certificate.
“What’s so great about this is just knowing the camaraderie, communication and work ethic it took to start this,” Moberly said. “What was brought to our attention was a desire to create an in-service law enforcement academy in Northern Kentucky.”
Northern Kentucky will join the likes of Bowling Green, Louisville and other areas in Kentucky that have their own in-service police training academies for officers who are mandated by the state to complete 40 hours of Kentucky Law Enforcement Council-certified continuing education classes every year.
Now, officers will no longer have to travel to Richmond, Ky. for their training, instead keeping them in the region. (New officers will still attend the 20-week basic training program at the Department of Criminal Justice Training on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.)
Kenton County Police Chief Spike Jones said the benefits of Northern Kentucky having its own in-service academy will allow officer training to be more affordable for local municipalities. It will also give officers an opportunity to remain at home with their families during training.
The in-service training academy will not be one singular brick and mortar location, but rather a cohesive network of established training facilities across Northern Kentucky.
Officer training can now be broken up into 24-hour and 16-hour blocks, which will allows for greater schedule flexibility, officials said.
“A lot of the training we would like to do will be focused around those unique aspects of Northern Kentucky that really make us a very special place to live,” Jones said. “We’re excited about having the opportunities.”
The in-service training academy will detail training toward Northern Kentucky-specific issues, which will give local police officers more expertise on how to best police their geographic area. In other in-service training academies across Kentucky, such as Louisville and Bowling Green, officers are trained to deal with problems specifically related to their area, such as localized crime trends and community relations.
“We interact regularly with the agencies in Elsmere, Covington, Fort Thomas, Newport, Fort Mitchell, all those departments,” Jones said. “These officers get to know each other and get to interact. Now we’ll be able to lay out standardized templates for new officers, and really teach them and give them the abilities in the workplace to take this interoperability to a new level.”
The academy materialized through months of collaboration between Northern Kentucky police departments, sheriffs departments and Kentucky police organizations. Jones praised collaboration efforts of Northern Kentucky police leaders in making the in-service training academy a reality.
Jones said he is optimistic that the in-service training academy will get off the ground in the next few months.
