By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH

Associate Editor

    For the fifth year, the Butler County Sheriff’s Department is hosting a Missouri Sheriff’s Association Law Enforcement Training Academy locally.

    “It’s a 700-hour training academy; students graduate with a Class A certification in law enforcement (which) actually exceeds the state requirements to be a licensed peace officer in the State of Missouri,” explained Butler County Assistant Chief Deputy Scott Wiggs, who has served as the academy’s site coordinator for seven years.

    Classes during the 10-month academy are held from 6 to 10 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, with some Sundays also required. “The reason we run in the evenings and on weekends is so the person can work their regular job and still get their training in,” Wiggs said.

    According to Wiggs,  this is the seventh year the academy has been located in the Poplar Bluff, Mo., area. One year, he said, it was held at Dexter, Mo.

    “For the last five years, it’s been here at the sheriff’s office (but) the officers attending are not just from Butler County,” Wiggs said. “(The students) come from all over Southeast Missouri.

    “They attend here and get out and work in their communities in the Bootheel area. … Honestly, a lot of our officers we hire for our department have come through the academy.”

    The academy has been a “huge benefit to us and has paid dividends with new recruits,” said Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs. “Every time there is a graduation, it is an exciting time for us because it’s similar to draft day in the NFL where we get to chose new members for our team.”

    The benefit, Dobbs said, is “we know who we are choosing ahead of time because we have taught them and watched them learn and watched their demeanor and get to know them while they are in the academy.”

    Each year, Wiggs said, a maximum of 25 to 30 students are accepted into the academy.

    “We try to keep the numbers manageable,” Wiggs said. “We like to keep the student-instructor ratio reasonable so (the students) have more hands-on time with the instructors.”

    Unlike some law enforcement academies, “all our instructors are current law enforcement officers,” coming from such agencies as the Poplar Bluff Police Department, Butler County Sheriff’s Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol, Wiggs said. Some of the 15 instructors, he said, also come from other area agencies.

    Having current officers teaching the classes, allows for instructors to stay up with current trends, laws and procedures in law enforcement, which Wiggs described as an “ever-changing business that you have to stay on top of.”

    Wiggs said the academy is advantageous to local officers in that they can obtain training by sitting in on any class they chose to for continuing education hours.

    It allows the officers to stay current instead of relying on what they were taught when they went to the academy, Wiggs said.

Among the core topics covered is statutory law, as well as court procedures, vehicle stops and defensive tactics, Wiggs said.

A block added last year is geared toward jail officers, but “basic recruits” also get a basic jail course, Wiggs said.

    Training topics also include investigations, firearms, interview and interrogation skills, domestic and child abuse and processing crime scenes, he said.

    “We do a block of first-responder training that is instructed by a local paramedic,” Wiggs explained. “They get their first-responder and CPR certification.”

    The academy offers a lot of hands-on experience, particularly in tactical training, as the students learn to make building entries and search vehicles.

    “One of the things I believe our training site offers, maybe more than others, is that officers get a lot of hands-on and practical (experience). It’s not all book work,” Wiggs said. “Having it in our facilities, we can utilize the equipment we have.”

    For example, the department’s patrol cars are used for the vehicle stops, which gives the students “first-hand knowledge of the use of everyday equipment so when they graduate they are familiar with the vehicles and all the tools of the trade and are able to use them,” Wiggs said.

    Upon graduating, the students take the Missouri Peace Officer Standards and Training test.

    “That’s who actually provides the license to be a peace officer in the State of Missouri,” Wiggs said.

    According to Wiggs, the academy has a high success rate. “Last year, we graduated 17 cadets, with 15 in uniform being employed or commissioned with an agency,” he said.

    The 2010 academy begins Aug. 10 in the training room at the sheriff’s office, with graduation in May.

    The deadline to apply for the academy is July 10. Although there is maximum age requirement, applicants must turn 21 before graduation.

    Anyone interested in applying should contact Wiggs at 785-8444 or bc392@bcsheriff.com or the Missouri Sheriff’s Association Training Academy at 573-635-9644 as soon as possible or visit the association’s Web site at www.mosheriffs.com to obtain an application.

    “If someone is interested and unable to get their paperwork processed and sent in by the 10th, I will work with them to extend (the time) a little bit to get the paperwork processed,” Wiggs said.

    College credit and financial aid are available through Missouri State University’s West Plains campus for those who qualify. For more information, contact Rachel Peterson at 471-255-7978.