ARLINGTON — A new police training academy in Arlington will welcome its first class Monday, the latest step in addressing statewide staffing shortages.

On Thursday morning, Gov. Bob Ferguson, local police officers and elected officials joined the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission for the academy’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Northwest Regional Campus is the state’s fourth satellite training academy. Previously, the closest academy to Snohomish County was the commission’s headquarters in Burien. The new facility allows recruits to train closer to where they live, making the academy more accessible for people who aren’t able to relocate.

“It’d be hard to overstate how important this is,” Ferguson said Thursday in an interview with The Daily Herald.

In addition to attending the ceremony in Arlington, Ferguson hosted a roundtable discussion with Everett clean technology representatives and small business leaders Thursday afternoon at the Port of Everett.

The new academy will conduct two basic training classes a year with 30 recruits each, as well as advanced training for firearms education, patrol tactics and instructor development. The 38,736-square-foot space includes a warehouse, arms room, defensive tactics training area, two classrooms, office spaces, and storage and locker rooms. A virtual reality machine and two simulation houses will provide recruits training for real-world policing scenarios.

Legislators allocated more than $1.5 million for the training center in early 2024.

“This is an opportunity where, finally, all of our officers that are going through the academies, they’re not being placed away from their homes and their families,” Arlington Mayor Don Vanney said.

Until just over a year ago, the wait time for police academy training in Washington was eight months, said Monica Alexander, the commission’s executive director. Now, the wait is down to zero.

“I know from speaking to law enforcement officers that when they had those long wait times, they would lose folks,” Ferguson said. “Folks just can’t wait that long to get into training.”

Since the commission opened regional campuses in Pasco and Vancouver, 164 law enforcement officers and 32 corrections officers have graduated.

“We are training more recruits at this time than at any time in the history of our state,” said State Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek. “These regional academies strengthen the connection between officers and the communities they are sworn to serve. I’ve always believed that that connection is the heart of effective, compassionate policing.”

Local law enforcement agencies — including Everett and Arlington police and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office — will provide instructors for the academy.

“Having it here in Snohomish County is a big win for us to get more of our people through the program and graduated and on the streets to improve community safety,” said Snohomish County Council member Nate Nehring after the ceremony.

Washington has been 51st in the nation for police officers per capita for the past 14 years. The state must hire 1,370 officers to tie for 50th. The Everett Police Department has faced persistent staffing shortages since 2019. While recruitment is a large part of state shortages, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has had more difficulty with retaining officers, Sheriff Susanna Johnson said.

“We’re finding with our younger generations that they are looking to have six or seven careers in a lifetime,” she said in an interview. “So they’ll spend maybe three to five years, in some cases, two to three years, and they’ll go to another career. So about the time we get them out on the road and and out there actually doing the job, they leave.”

A bill in the state Legislature would create a $100 million hiring grant program for police officers. Ferguson said he is optimistic the bill will reach his desk.

“We’re sending a clear bipartisan message that we need to make investments into communities so that they can hire more well-trained officers,” he said.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.