Training hours to nearly double for Georgia law enforcement
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Training time for all law enforcement officers across Georgia is slated to nearly double next year.
Previously, officers were only required to complete 408 hours. Now. they will have to go through 810 hours.
This comes after the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) made the decision during its meeting on Tuesday.
Deputy Director of POST, Chris Harvey, says the decision to increase the minimum number of hours for officers was more of a decision of when rather than if.
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“We realized that it had not been updated since 2006. And if you think about all the changes that have taken place in law enforcement and in society since 2006, we knew we were going to be behind,” said Harvey.
He says the revised training will include more in-depth courses on scenarios like crisis prevention, safe driving, community policing and training on handling elections.
Several organizations rank Georgia as the second lowest in the nation for required training hours. The increase will make it one of the highest.
Patrick Cullinan served in Georgia law enforcement for 26 years. He’s now part of the Georgia Police Benevolence Association which provides a variety of resources for officers on the job.
Cullinan pushed for the change and says it’s a step in the right direction for better quality officers in the field because times have simply changed and he believes law enforcement standards have to adapt.
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“I needed a lot more training. But there was a big difference, then we were most departments were fully staffed back then. And we were able to go to a lot of advanced specialized training, what we’re facing now, not just here in our local community, but around the country is shortages and law enforcement,” said Cullinan.
Cullinan says he wishes he had more training for the mental side of the job.
“How do you handle the aftermath? If you’re an officer involved in a shooting and all the deaths that you deal with, all the tragedy you deal with. And they’re doing a better job, especially here in the state of Georgia, and they’re even going to ramp that up more now,” said Cullinan.
Cullinan says he’s hopeful for the quality and preparedness of officers to become better with the investment on the frontload of training, but he emphasized the continued importance of education and training in the future.
“The needs of every community are different. We leave it up to the individual agencies, how they conduct their field training,” he said.
The new extended training will take effect on January 1, 2025.
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