DOCJT Facilities Designed to Meet Needs of Kentucky Officers

Oct 7

Oct 7 DOCJT Facilities Designed to Meet Needs of Kentucky Officers

The Peace Officer Professional Standards Act was landmark legislation when Kentucky’s former Gov. Paul Patton signed it into law in 1998. It was the first time in the commonwealth that all officers – from the smallest agency in eastern Kentucky to the largest in the western corners– would have the opportunity to earn the same standard of training.

Prior to 1998, many agencies were sending officers to the Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT) to learn the skills needed to perform their jobs, but it was not mandatory that every newly hired officer attend the Basic Training Academy. This new mandate was a boon to the professionalism of law enforcement across the state, but created a need at DOCJT for expanded facilities.

As such, the Schwendeman building was constructed to provide additional classroom space, the Thompson dormitory was built to house students in 135 dorm rooms, and the Weber fitness facility was added and outfitted with state-of-the-art physical training equipment and an eighth-mile track. These facilities rounded out DOCJT’s existing training structures, which included a driving track, firearms range and the McKinney Skills Complex.

“The vision was to create a training space that allowed DOCJT to meet the needs of officers defined by a Job Task Analysis,” said DOCJT Training Director Frank Kubala, who worked together with former DOCJT staff to plan the expanded facilities. “There was a lot of forethought into what officers would need from these facilities over the next 20 years to continue meeting those needs as the profession developed.

Included in the Schwendeman building was a breath-test lab, which is one of only a few in Kentucky that provides instruments designed to train officers how to identify impaired drivers. Driving under the influence (DUI) training was incorporated into DOCJT’s basic training curriculum as a result of the deadly 1988 Carrollton bus crash, which killed 27 and injured another 34 people in the fiery collision caused by a drunken driver.

Today’s DUI training not only teaches recruits how to operate breath-test instruments, but also teaches them how to conduct field sobriety testing and provides other information needed to keep Kentucky’s roadways safe from impaired drivers.

“I would ask students if they had seen somebody who was impaired or drunk,” said DOCJT Supervisor Duane Bowling. “Everyone would raise their hands. Then I would tell them to prove it. It’s one thing to say we all know what it looks like, but as an officer, you have to prove it. That’s where those tests and scientific studies come in to ensure you’re doing it correctly and accurately to give you the correct presumption whether to make an arrest or not. A lot of recruits would then say, ‘OK, now I get why we’re doing what we’re doing.’ DUI training was built into basic training because it has one of the highest crime rates in the state of Kentucky and one of the deadliest.”

Since officers are required to spend a large portion of their workdays in cruisers on the streets of their communities, driving training is a critical part of DOCJT instruction. The academy is home to the only track of its kind in the state, which includes an “inner city” loop with stop signs and traffic signals as well as an outer loop for higher-speed training. The combined loops provide a little more than a mile of paved track.

Basic Training recruits learn vehicle dynamics, backing, night driving, emergency response and more. In-service students are also instructed in defensive driving tactics, advanced traffic stops and other skills in DOCJT courses.

“Driving-related deaths are historically one of the top killers of law enforcement,” Kubala said. “The training that recruits and in-service students receive on DOCJT’s track is intended to keep them and the citizens they serve as safe as possible.”

In 2007, DOCJT launched the Kentucky Criminalistics Academy (KCA), a program designed to offer detectives and crime-scene investigators advanced crime-solving skills. The 400-hour forensics program is divided between two, five-week blocks taught in consecutive years. The first phase, the Crime Scene Technician Course, includes work in basic crime scene processing, digital photography, advanced latent fingerprinting, forensic mapping, case preparation and court testimony.

During the second phase, participants delve into intense, specialized training in fingerprint identification and comparison techniques, shooting reconstruction, bloodstain pattern recognition and alcohol, firearms and explosives-evidence collection.

This year, DOCJT upgraded and re-designed the KCA training space to include a new blood spatter room, low-light photography room and a lab with a superior ventilation system that improves safety for academy students.

“DOCJT is constantly assessing our training spaces to ensure that what we provide to students is the best and safest it can be,” Kubala said. “Whether that is expanding the KCA lab or ensuring our technology is up-to-date in the breath-test lab, DOCJT is committed to offering the best we can to our clients to ensure the officers we train are successful in their communities.”