Springfield Police had 112 officers on its roster at the end of 2017. It should have 130, according to department officials. The department is able to hire more officers after voters approved an income tax increase last spring. Springfield residents voted to raise the city’s income tax for 5.5 years from 2 percent to 2.4 percent.
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The police academy features current and retired Springfield police officers as instructors.
“I want to be a police officer because you don’t see too many females out there being cops. Most females think that they can’t do it or it’s a man’s job,” said one of the current cadets, Colina Yates.
She is one of eight cadets in the academy’s day class. It has four classes a year, with two day and two night classes. Yates’ program will end in July.
“It’s solely on making a connection with individuals we come across. I think that’s one of the things they really instill, into all of the cadets in this academy, is to make that connection when you pull up on that call,” Yates said.
Paul Weber, commander of the Clark State Police Academy, said Yates and others will learn all aspects of becoming a police officer through the academy.
“(The cadets will learn) legal, firearms, driving, subject control training, first aid training. Just basically everything related to law enforcement, they get in the academy,” Weber said. “First part of the academy is a lot of classroom.”
Next, cadets will have practical training like traffic stops, approaches and building searches. They will later have to demonstrate what they have learned during the program.
The cadets will also have to pass a physical training test at the end of the program in order to take the state exam for accreditation.
“Every hour that we have class, they get a 10-minute break. First thing they do is push-ups and sit-ups. Then when we have physical training sessions during the week, they have a lot more running,” Weber said.
The curriculum has changed over the years because of various police shootings and other officer-involved incidents.
“(There are) more different topics … that we didn’t have 15, 20 years ago that help, like crisis intervention, community diversity training, things that police need,” Weber said.
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