Advanced Pre-Police Academy Certificate

Students interested in taking the advanced pre-police academy certificate must complete the basic pre-police academy certificate prior to enrolling.  The advanced pre-police academy certificate consists of seven courses with a total of 17 college credit hours (see appendix #2).  Students will be exposed to the components of the physical fitness, constitutional law, report writing, crisis intervention, and defensive/pursuit driving.  The physical fitness courses will enhance their development into life-style change.  Trainers will focus on weightlifting, cardio, and toning.  Crisis intervention will prepare the students for responding to calls for service.  Students will practice defusing hostile situations.  In addition, students are required to focus on a special problem in criminal justice.  For this certificate, the special problem is defensive/pursuit driving.  According to Bureau of Justice Statistics (2017), death in police related crashes average 355 per year between 1996 and 2015 (BJS, p. 1).  Focusing on this problem will allow students to learn about police pursuits, gain experience in pursuit driving, and provide research to assist with policy development for local agencies.  Students will conduct research on police pursuits focusing on policy development (i.e. officer discretion, pursuit/no pursuit, conditions to pursue).  In addition, students will complete an academy approved driving course.  Upon completing this course, students will understand the dynamics of pursuits.  Finally, they will complete a National Safety Council Defensive Driving Course.  This will assist the students with understanding defensive driving and reduce any points they may have on their driving record.