Clark State Community College will hold a graduation ceremony for cadets of the Peace Officer Training Academy at 6 p.m. on January 10 in the Hollenbeck Bayley Creative Arts and Conference Center, 275 South Limestone Street. The graduates represent the first class of cadets to complete their training in the new facility located in the Brinkman Educational Center in downtown Springfield.
“The new facility has made vast improvements with our ability to teach the cadets all the various aspects of the police academy,” said Paul Weber, commander of the Clark State Police Academy.
The new facility features a Subject Control/Physical Fitness Center with improved training equipment and space and additional physical fitness training equipment. The new academic room includes additional space, computer desks and better equipment for an improved classroom atmosphere. A new Practical Training room is used for practical (hands-on) training for domestic violence, crime scene, DUI enforcement training and Milo System training (weapons scenario-based system to train officers in the use of force).
“We are sending out well trained cadets, and I am confident they will make excellent police officers,” said Weber. “They went through 695 hours of training with some of the best academy instructors in the state. They started out as individuals, and over the past six months, developed into a team.”
Weber said the Clark State Peace Officer Training Academy receives notifications on a weekly basis from various police departments, sheriff departments and the Ohio State Highway Patrol seeking applicants for law enforcement officers. Four graduates have jobs already lined up after they pass the State Certification Exam and five are in the application process for local police and sheriff’s departments.
“Clark State’s Police Academy strives to develop young men and women to prepare them for their future careers,” said Weber. “The support we receive from the college administration and the staff of highly qualified instructors, allows us to better prepare future law enforcement officers to serve the communities where we live.”
Clark State will offer an evening Peace Officer Training Academy beginning January 9 from 5:30 - 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. A daytime Peace Officer Training Academy will begin March 13 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and includes several weekends for on-and-off-site training.
Interested students should visit Clark State’s Police Academy office in the Brinkman Educational Center in downtown Springfield to pick up and complete the required OPOTA application and other required forms. A candidate is then required to get a physical and be finger printed for a BCI background check at the Clark County Sheriff’s Department.
Clark State offers four peace officer training academies each year—four-month daytime academies and six-month evening academies are each held twice a year. Each academy is limited to 25 cadets. Cadets must be 21 years of age at the time they take the state certification exam. Cadets must also have a valid Ohio driver’s license, a high school diploma or GED equivalent and cannot have any felony or violent misdemeanor convictions.
Police Academy Graduates
Enon
Tyler Michael Long
Sherri A. Robinson
Galloway
Cazavia Olandra Henley
Hilliard
Nicholas James McDowell
Huber Heights
Tyler Murphy
London
Michael David Parcells
St. Paris
Keith Allen Brantley
Springfield
Chad A. Chance
Paige Allison Cochran
Bradley Thomas Jarzab
Kerrie B. Kimpel
Jermaine T. Liggins
David C. Vanderveen
Derek Scott Wilson
West Jefferson
Kayla Phipps
West Jefferson
Robert Speakman
Westerville
Erik Vaughn Thacker
Urbana
Joshua E. Thomas
Vandalia
Alex D. Welbaum