Glendale Community College teams with police on law enforcement training academy

PHOENIX — Glendale Community College and nine West Valley police departments announced Thursday they’ve partnered to launch a fulltime law enforcement training academy.

The first class consisting of 30 recruits will begin Monday at the Glendale Regional Public Safety Training Center located on Glendale Avenue and El Mirage Road, Glendale Community College said in a press release.

All cities, including Avondale, Buckeye, El mirage, Glendale, Goodyear, Wickenburg, Peoria, Surprise and Tolleson, will send recruits, with a goal to train at least 100 recruits annually.

Those who graduate from the Law Enforcement Training Academy will receive a certificate in law enforcement, which equals about 40 academic credit hours, in addition to becoming a certified Peace officer by the Arizona Peace Officers Training and Standards Board.

Each of the participating cities will supply cars, ammunition and instructors for the training, according to the release.

“The need for an additional full-time police academy in the West Valley has emerged as a critical need as the West Valley grows and other options for training police officers have become more limited,” Genea Stephens, director of law enforcement training at Glendale Community College, said in the release.

With the academy in place, the relationship between West Valley agencies could be strengthened and protocols to incidents that require a multi-agency response may be improved.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place noon on Tuesday at the Glendale Regional Public Safety Training Center, with police chiefs and officials from all nine cities expected to be in attendance.

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