FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OPCLEE
Friday, October 13, 2000 202/307-0703
POLICE CORPS TRAINS NEW OFFICERS IN
GEORGIA,
KENTUCKY, AND MICHIGAN
States Receive 39 Officers Through Justice Department
Program
WASHINTON, DC – With the graduation today of 39 Police
Corps cadets, Georgia, Kentucky, and Michigan moved forward in their
participation in the Justice Department’s Police Corps program. These three
states and 22 others nationwide were selected by the Justice Department’s
Office of Justice Programs (OJP) to recruit and train college graduates to
serve a minimum four years as community police officers.
“The highly trained graduates from the Police Corps
program will continue to make an enormous difference in the communities they
serve,” said Mary Lou Leary, Acting Assistant Attorney General for OJP. “Through the successful completion of this
rigorous training program, these new police officers are equipped with the necessary
skills, knowledge and leadership to become effective officers in this new era
of community policing.”
The Police Corps program is a competitive college scholarship
program for students who
agree
to work in a state or local police force for at least four years. The funds
cover education expenses, including tuition, fees, books, supplies,
transportation, room and board, and miscellaneous expenses.
Today’s 12 graduates of the Georgia Police Corps program will join local law
enforcement agencies statewide. The
graduation ceremony, which recognized Georgia’s first Police Corps class, took
place at the Georgia Public Training Center in Forsyth, Georgia.
The
Michigan and Kentucky Police Corps graduations were those states’ second Police
Corps classes, adding 23 officers to 14 Michigan law enforcement agencies and
four officers to Kentucky’s law enforcement agencies. The Michigan ceremony
took place on the campus of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, and the
Kentucky ceremony took place on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.
The graduations capped rigorous Police Corps training programs that consisted of 18 to 20 weeks of basic police training. This training, funded by the Justice Department, teaches the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential to serve on community patrol. At the conclusion of the training, all participants must satisfy high performance standards for physical, mental and emotional fitness. The police departments in which individual participants will serve provide additional training as appropriate.
Currently
Georgia, Kentucky and Michigan are recruiting for upcoming Police Corps
classes. Students interested in the
Police Corps apply to the "lead agency" of the participating state in
which they wish to serve. States with Police Corps programs are expected to
advertise the availability of scholarships to the full range of prospective
participants and to make special efforts to encourage applications from all
racial, ethnic and gender groups.
For additional information about the Police Corps program contact: Kristin Lagerquist with the Michigan Police Corps at 231/591-3792; Jan McLeod with the Georgia Police Corps at 912/993-4231; or Billy Fryer with the Kentucky Police Corps at 859/622-8075. Information is also available through OJP’s Web site at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/opclee.
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OPC1006
For additional information
contact Sheila Jerusalem at 202/616-3227.