The RU Police Academy trains officers to be ready to enter the field upon graduation.
Reinhardt University’s Public Safety Institute, established in 2009, offers extensive training as part of the Police Academy program. The program is designed to prepare you to start working after graduation and is created with the adult learner in mind.
The mission of the Public Safety Institute is to provide responsive mobile academic programs to meet the training and educational needs of first responders and other public safety professionals. The program includes Academy Certification through the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council. Georgia law enforcement officers are required to hold basic peace officer certification through POST Council, and many law enforcement agencies must send their newly hired officers away to complete the certification before they can begin work in the field.
“Our approach allows an individual to complete training and receive certification prior to being hired. This makes our graduates more marketable and attractive to hiring agencies,” said Trey Drawdy, interim dean of the School of Professional Studies and director of the Public Safety Institute. “Essentially, an agency can hire one of our police academy graduates and immediately place them on the road. Some agencies start our graduates at a higher rate of pay because they come job-ready.”
Police Academy students will train for a minimum of 408 hours over 46 topical areas, such as First Aid/CPR, Georgia criminal law, emergency vehicle operations, marksmanship, criminal investigations and crisis intervention. Along with 20 weeks of courses offered at night and on weekends, the curriculum utilizes the University’s online learning system to provide further assistance of concept mastery.
“All of our classes are taught by seasoned law enforcement professionals currently employed in field or have recently retired from law enforcement,” said Drawdy.
Upon completion of the program, Police Academy students earn 15 semester hours of academic credit that can be applied to an Associate of Science in Criminal Justice, or other degree seeking programs offered at Reinhardt University.
Reinhardt’s Public Safety Institute is one of the only POST certified academies in Georgia to offer a police academy program on a night and weekend schedule, and that designs its training program in consideration of working adults.
Applications are currently open. The deadline to apply is July 24. Learn more about the program at https://www.reinhardt.edu/academics/adult-online-programs/associate-degree-programs/psi-police-academy/.
