Police chief leads push for facility

March 11, 2008 by senatormcconnell

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen continues to push for a regional law enforcement training academy despite a state panel’s recent decision to withhold key support from the effort.

Mullen traveled to Columbia in January to enlist support for the plan from the panel that governs the state Criminal Justice Academy. He argued that a satellite training center would ease the burden on the state academy, reduce the waiting time for classroom openings and get new recruits on the street more quickly.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council, which oversees the academy, recently voted unanimously to reject the idea. The panel contends that regional training centers would siphon funds from the central academy at a time when it is struggling to rebuild after years of underfunding and neglect.

York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant, the training council’s chairman, said that regional facilities might be possible in the future but that the timing is “very, very terrible” to push such an initiative now.

“We don’t have the necessary funding to properly run the academy we have right now,” he said. “To try to go out and open regional academies right now is just not feasible.”

The academy has struggled to keep pace with the demand for training recruits. Agencies must wait months to enroll new officers in the required nine-week sessions.

Mullen envisions a regional facility that eventually could serve law enforcement agencies from Beaufort to Myrtle Beach, graduating roughly 240 students per year. He estimates the startup costs to be about $270,000.

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By Glenn Smith
The Post and Courier
March 8, 2008

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