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Crime foes no longer cuffed by day jobs

Pasco-Hernando Community College will soon offer its law enforcement academy at night.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published October 7, 2005

In an effort to recruit a more seasoned crop of crime fighters into local agencies, Pasco-Hernando Community College will start offering its law enforcement academy during evening hours.

Starting in February, classes for up to 30 cadets will be held Monday through Thursday 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and all day on Saturdays. The course lasts nine months.

"It's definitely needed," said Brian Corley, chief personnel director for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Today, Pasco and Hernando residents who want to take the training at night must drive to other counties.

Sheriffs in both Pasco and Hernando counties requested the program to create more opportunities for adults who want to pursue law enforcement but can't sacrifice other obligations, said Dan Griffith, director of PHCC's law enforcement academy.

"It isn't that we're getting bad or unworthy students," Griffith said of the day program. But the type of person who can attend classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday is generally limited to those without families or jobs, he said.

"In my experience, individuals with more life experience become better officers because they relate with the citizens of the community," Griffith said.

Corley said Griffith has a point. The Sheriff's Office often steers its younger hires to work in detention before putting them in law enforcement. That's partly to give them an opportunity to mature before placing them in a high-stress street patrol position.

While there isn't an immediate need for hires - the Pasco Sheriff's Office has a law enforcement waiting list of about 50 now - Corley said the program is important for folks who know they have a law enforcement calling but can't escape their daytime commitments.

The concept of a night academy is far from new.

St. Petersburg College, Hillsborough Community College and Withlacoochee Technical Institute have long offered evening training.

Anyone interested in attending the PHCC program must attend a mandatory academy orientation, held the third Thursday of each month at the Public Service Technology Building at the east campus in Dade City. To register for orientation, call (352) 518-1362.

The cost of the night academy is $2,671 for Florida residents.

[Last modified October 7, 2005, 01:50:23]