PASCO — A new Criminal Justice Training Academy promises to increase the presence of community peace officers in Washington. The second 2nd Basic Law Enforcement Academy Class with 31 recruits began on 10/9/23.
Sen. John Lovick (D-Mill Creek), former State Trooper, Snohomish County Sheriff, and supporter of recently passed community-policing legislation said, “It is inspiring to see the new young faces of our recruits. Beyond our need for more officers, we need to change the culture of policing. The way to change this culture is to have officers serving the communities they grew up in.”
Many of the recruits training at the Pasco academy will go on to serve in their communities in Eastern Washington. Thanks to the regional academy, recruits are now able to travel home to their families in the evening while others on the west side of the state are trained at the main Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) campus in Burien. We are looking to open a training campus in Clark, Skagit and Snohomish. Every officer trained in a regional campus creates a slot for additional officers at the CJTC.
