CPD: Training after the academy
"It's consistent across the board."
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – In honor of national police week, we look into how local law enforcement is staying sharp and maintaining its edge in the line of duty.
Each training academy in the state has a standardized curriculum.
“Now each agency might have a little tweak that they might do a little different or might put a little more emphasis on one particular thing. But it’s all the same as far as minimum standards,” said Columbus Police Chief Joseph Daughtry.
State law requires each police officer to keep their certification current by continuing education with 24 hours of annual additional training.
“A lot of our training is firearms. This year we did Narcan. We’ve done report writing. We’ve done responding to domestic situations. We’re getting ready to do conflict resolution. We sent three to motor school. We getting ready to send three to less lethal schools. Last year we had twelve that went to SWAT school,” said Daughtry.
All of those hours count toward their 24 hours of continuing education.
This was William Henderson three months ago, a recruit gearing up for the academy.
Now, Henderson is one of five officers who graduated from the Jackson Police Training Academy last Friday.
He said the training was more fun than he expected.
“The driving, the shooting, the defensive tactics – it really brought everybody together in the way that we need to come together in the department as a unit as well. Hopefully, I can apply those skills more than anything,” said Henderson.
“There’s a motto that law enforcement use in the training academy: more sweat in training, less blood on the street,” said Daughtry.
CPD currently has 45 officers. Daughtry hopes to get that number up to 75.
