NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - The North Charleston Police Department wants to make it easier to get officers trained here in the Lowcountry.
Deputy Chief Greg Gomes is presenting a plan at the North Charleston Committee of the Whole meeting that would make basic police training available at Trident Technical College.
NCPD says that currently the only place in South Carolina for future officers to get their training is in Columbia at the police academy, but says that model just isn’t working anymore for several reasons.
Gomes says there are more officers than there are class spaces, which means some people have to wait months to get training and that doesn’t help fill openings quickly.
He also says since the training is for twelve weeks, it’s hard for people to be away from their family that long.
That is where the training classes at Trident Tech come in.
Jackie Swindler with the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy says he doesn’t think another location is needed, contrary to what NCPD is proposing.
He says over the past few years the SCCJA has provided NCPD specifically with even more training slots than they originally asked for each time.
The academy will also be starting new classes every two weeks come July, which means they will have 24 classes a year instead of 16. He says teaching everyone at the same place by the same instructors means they get uniform state of the art training, and that’s how it should stay.
Thursday night’s meeting is not a time where any decisions will be made.
The meeting is just for NCPD to show the committee what their proposal is and present why they think it will be a good option for the Lowcountry.
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