This story is sponsored by North Central State College.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations is one of the most important law enforcement organizations in the state of Ohio. The Bureau helps maintain nationwide DNA databases alongside performing investigations, and Morgan Scarberry, a special agent for BCI, credits North Central State Colleges Police Academy for her success in law enforcement.
“The courses were taught by instructors who worked in the field, which was a major benefit,” Scarberry said. “In this line of work, it is one thing to read about it and another to apply it during a real situation. Learning from those who have done the job helps in that transition.”
NCSC’s Police Academy is split into two separate tracks, one being for full time students that runs from August to January and the other being for part time students that runs from August to May. The academy’s course load is based on Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy guidelines and factors in the 737 training hours required to take the peace officer exam in Ohio.
“There are a lot of hands-on aspects of the training academy, alongside the book and coursework,” Police Academy Commander Brad Copeland said.
The academies courses cover the Ohio Revised Code, laws around search and seizure, crisis intervention, domestic violence, missing people and human trafficking, patrol tactics and more. As part of the academy students attend two weekend workshops, with one workshop being focused on driving skills and the other being focused on field sobriety testing.
“We have volunteers come in and, under very controlled circumstances, consume alcohol at a dosed rate,” Copeland said. “We do testing on them so that we know their level of intoxication. The students are able to test those individuals using the skills that they’ve learned in the book portion of the class.”
As a safety measure these volunteers remain below the legal drinking limit of 0.08.
Scarberry recalled the field sobriety exercise saying:
“The practical aspects such as driving and field sobriety testing were typically all day Saturday. At times these were challenging because they were brand new skills, but all of the instructors made themselves available to help with anything you needed extra practice on.”
As part of NCSC students are able to pursue a criminal justice degree, with Copeland often trying to direct students down that route.
“With our police academy, (students) also receive 30 credit hours toward their associates degree,” Copeland said. “So we encourage people ‘why not go ahead and continue on with your degree.’”
Another benefit to pursuing the associates degree is the time it takes to get the degree, as police officers in Ohio have to be 21-years-old. Copeland added that a criminal justice degree helps students land jobs after completing the academy.
The academy does have some requirements for entry though, notably physical fitness: coming into the program students are expected to test in the 15th percentile for physical fitness and upon graduation be in the 50th percentile for physical fitness. The academy does its best to prepare students, having about 40 hours of physical training time built into the coursework, but students are expected to be training on their own, according to Copeland.
Due to these expectations and strict standards, NCSC’s Police Academy can boast impressive graduation and job placement numbers. Nearly 75% of those who enter the academy complete it and nearly 100% of those who complete the program pass their state peace officer exam and get a job in law enforcement.
Scarberry acknowledged that these standards can be challenging for academy students, but said that the experience is worth the challenge.
“The academy told us that our field training would be like drinking from a fire hose, which couldn’t have been more accurate,” Scarberry said. “But the academy laid a solid foundation, teaching us that police work is not black and white. That is the number one thing I carry with me today.”
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