With the closure of the state’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy in Burien on March 16, 11 future police officers and deputies cannot complete their training.
Those recruited by individual law enforcement agencies get 720 hours of academy training, including in defensive tactics, cultural awareness and firearms.
Upon completion, they take tests to earn their peace officer certificates, which are required by the state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission to serve as fully-commissioned officers.
“It just delays getting those bodies in the academy,” Sedro-Woolley Police Chief Lin Tucker said of the pandemic. “This really just slows everything down.”
Getting recruits into the academy has historically been difficult due to limited spots available,” Skagit County Undersheriff Chad Clark said.
However, in the past several years, the academy has ramped up the amount of classes offered.
When the academy closed, most of the recruits were sent into a cautionary two-week quarantine, academy Executive Director Sue Rahr said on the academy’s website.
A recruit had shown possible symptoms of COVID-19, but later tested negative, Rahr said.
Though the typical process is to have the recruits work with training officers after completing their 720 hours of instruction, that has changed because of the academy’s closure.
Now, some recruits are being sent to their departments right away.
“When they go back to the academy, they’ll be one step ahead,” Tucker said.
