Twenty-seven new police officers graduated from the new Fox Valley Technical College Law Enforcement Recruit Academy. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREENVILLE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Fox Valley Technical College is helping to get more police officers on the street. The college adding an extra law enforcement recruit academy class to an already busy schedule.
A group of nearly 30 officers graduated from the 720 hour program on Friday.
From Caledonia to Grand Chute, Marquette County and the City of Fond du Lac, law enforcement agencies across the state are always looking to fill positions.
“In Fitchburg, in particular, we’ve had a little bit of a staffing crisis over the past couple of years. Last year, at this time, we were about 20% down on our sworn staffing. We had 11 vacancies,” Deputy Chief Matthew Laha with Fitchburg Police.
And as agencies have found out, filling those spots isn’t as easy as it used to be.
According to North Fond du Lac Police Chief, Pete Vergos, “The pace of law enforcement has changed, pace of the world has changed. It’s very hard to hire people. Typically we used to have around a hundred applicants, now we get around five to seven. So, when we get an applicant it’s nice to get them into an academy right away.”
But finding a recruit academy, for those new hires, is becoming more difficult too.
“I got hired in March of this year. Typically us students go down to the Madison College. I think Madison was full so it was kind of how the way the universe worked. I was lucky to come up here,” said Garrett Chisholm, a new Fitchburg police officer.
From Fitchburg, up here is to Fox Valley Tech’s Law Enforcement Recruitment Academy.
The college, celebrating the graduation of its newest recruits on Friday. The group of 27 is the first class, in the new fourth session being offered by Fox Valley Tech, to graduate.
“We had such a demand for the academy. We had a waitlist from the agencies so what we decided, add an extra class so we can accommodate the need,” said academy director, Tim Hufschmid.
Fox Valley Tech previously hosted three recruit academies each year. By adding this fourth class, which included managing a faculty that is 90% adjunct instructors who have a full-time jobs in law enforcement, the college is helping law enforcement agencies across the state.
Hufschmid said, “If we wouldn’t have had this academy, our next academy starts on Tuesday and then they graduate in October so it would have been six more months before an agency would have somebody on the road. So, we decided to add this academy so the officers could be on the road sooner for their agencies.”
That means a lot to not only departments looking to fill spots…
“It’s all about timing. And to be able to expedite those processes to be able to get some relief for not only our officers but more quality officers for our community is paramount,” added Laha.
And it helps to fulfill the hopes and dreams of these new offers too.
“There’s always the moniker of helping people but there’s also the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives so that’s something I was interested in doing,” said Matthew Perone, now an officer with North Fond du Lac.
With this four session of the academy complete, a new class will begin on Tuesday.
Comments