The VCSO Jail Academy; making new training a new standard

The process of becoming a certified law enforcement officer is fairly extensive in the state of Missouri. A person is required to complete a nearly 700-hour police academy, fingerprint background based investigation and pass a state exam administered by the Department of Public Safety.

To keep that license, you have to complete 24 hours of continuing education each year. On top of that training, most agencies require a field training officer program that is anywhere from four to eight weeks long before you can ever patrol or make arrests on your own. A person must complete all that training before they can make an arrest of a criminal and take him to jail.

After the arrest, the officer or deputy takes the person to jail and drops them off. But who is responsible for dealing with that person after they are dropped off at the jail? Somewhere along the road to the advancing world of law enforcement, the corrections side of law enforcement was left out of that process when it comes to county jails. Currently in the state of Missouri, there are no requirements for becoming a detention officer. There is no licensing process, there is no minimum amount of training required. Each county jail sets their own standards and qualifications for their jail.

Last year we implemented an FTO process for detention officers but I have always felt that a detention officer should receive the same type of training as any other law enforcement officer. After all, they are the ones in charge of dealing with people suspected of committing crimes that are arrested by people who are required to have state selected training.

What we are missing is the basic standardized training that one would get in an academy setting. Because of training budgets and staffing issues, most jails do not conduct much training before the hands-on portion received in the jail. I have pushed, and will continue to push, for a licensing process for county jails, but until then I have decided to create our own program that would work towards that goal.

Over the past few weeks, we have been working on creating our own Jail Training Academy that will be a requirement for any Detention Officer who works in our jail. The pilot academy will be approximately 60 hours in length and will consist of classroom with some hands-on training. We hope that someday a jail academy will be much longer than 60 hours, but you have to start somewhere and I am excited to be part of this process.

Over the years we have made an effort to send staff to instructor schools to help teach continuing education hours to our deputies in house, so we already have staff who can teach most of the classes that we feel should be required. In our first academy that we plan to hold in September, we will cover a wide range of topics that will include everything from ethical decision making, introduction to contraband, communication skills, to medical, firearms, taser and OC certification.

After completion of the academy, the Detention Officers will then be placed with an FTO and receive hands-on training in the jail before they begin working on their own. I want all the staff at the Sheriff’s Office to be as successful as possible and providing them with the best training possible will help them achieve that goal. The more we train, the more effective we will be, and the better we can serve our community.