Two local residents were among 41 new troopers who were presented
diplomas on Friday, August 11 in Frankfort.
Matthew Parmley and Adam Dodson, both of Wayne County, were part of
the 95th cadet class. They participated in the agency's fourth Law
Enforcement Accelerated Program (LEAP), a condensed course for
current officers who have two years of Kentucky Police Officer
Professional Standards (POPS) law enforcement experience.
The training included more than 500 hours of classroom and field
study in subjects such as constitutional law, juvenile and traffic
law, use of force, weapons training, defensive tactics, first aid,
high speed vehicle pursuit, criminal investigations, computer
literacy, hostage negotiations, evidence collection, radio
procedures, search and seizure, crash investigation, drug
identification, traffic control, crowd control, armed robbery
response, land navigation, electronic crimes, sex crimes, hate
crimes, domestic violence, bomb threats and hazardous materials.
Several members of the class earned special recognitions including
Parmley, who was valedictorian, and salutatorian Jerry Baker, of
Viper, Ky.
The addition of this class brings the agency's strength to a total
of 866 troopers serving the citizens of the Commonwealth.
KSP Commissioner Rick Sanders said the addition of these newly-
graduated troopers will help with the current strength, but does not
come close to resolving the agency's shortage of personnel.
"Like other police agencies, we have been challenged with
maintaining our strength of active officers in light of retirements
and attrition," Sanders said. "In 2000, the agency manpower was more
than 1,000. Yet, we are doing more today with fewer personnel and
resources than we had back then. To add to this dilemma, we are
servicing a higher population while seeing new crime that we didn't
have in the past such as human trafficking, electronic sexual
exploitation of children and the potential threat of terrorism."
Both Parmley and Dodson have been assigned to Post II out of London,
Ky.
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