Last month, the Daviess County Sheriff's Department made a job offer to a future new deputy.
Turns out, it will be quite a ways in the future before the deputy is ready to work on his own. That's because the newly hired deputy won't be able to attend the state police academy in Richmond until April.
"The academy is running five months behind," said Sheriff Barry Smith.
The lengthy time to get into the academy is due to the pandemic and the need for departments across the state to get new officers trained. The academy was closed for a time in 2020 due to the pandemic, but is now back to normal, Smith said.
"The last I heard, they were back to full operations, with five classes going full-time, but we aren't caught up to where we were" before the academy was closed by the pandemic, Smith said.
Most police officers and sheriff's deputies in the state go to the academy in Richmond. The Kentucky State Police and police departments in Bowling Green, Louisville and Lexington run their own academies.
The pandemic delayed training of new deputies for several months, adding to an already long process.
"I know the crew we had ready to go in March (of 2020) didn't go until December," Smith said.
The pandemic's effect on the academy has been felt even after the academy reopened. For example, a deputy who was hired last year reported to the academy for the first week of class last December, but then had to be sent home due to COVID, Smith said.
The academy is 20 weeks long, which is followed by several weeks of training with a field training officer.
Add on the long hiring process of tests, interviews, screenings and background check, and nearly a year passes between the time a person is hired and the time he or she can patrol on their own.
"The problem with law enforcement is it just takes so long to start with" to hire a new officer, Smith said. The pandemic's impact on the academy added more time to the process.
"The young man we hired last week would probably have gone in February, prior to the pandemic, Smith said. Instead, he has to wait until April.
Officer Andrew Boggess, public information officer for the Owensboro Police Department, said the department can't reserve spots at the academy with the expectation of having new hires ready to send on a certain date.
The academy requires departments to have made a hire and to send the new person's name and information to the academy prior to enrolling.
"They want to wait until they have that person's name" before reserving a slot in a class," Boggess said. "... You have to call and say, 'I have John Doe. When is the next time' " a spot is available.
OPD has some new officers booked to go to the academy in a few weeks, Boggess said.
After that, the next new hires will go sometime in the spring "but we don't have a date yet," Boggess said.
"We are dealing with the same struggles to get qualified people trained and get them on the streets as quick as we can," Boggess said. "Those academy spots fill up quick."
Dispatchers also attend a four-week dispatcher academy.
Paul Nave, director of Owensboro- Daviess County 9-1-1, said the pandemic hasn't been an issue in getting new dispatchers trained. Rather, the number of new dispatchers constantly being sent to training slows the process.
"The crux is the huge turnover across the state," in 911 dispatchers, Nave said.
Dispatchers are supposed to attend the academy within six months of being hired, but sometimes that's not possible due to the wait, Nave said.
"Sometimes, we have to get extensions if we go over six months, because we sometimes can't get them in," Nave said.
The training is "absolutely a phenomenal requirement to have," Nave said. "We are far above" other states, he said.
"Even though we have a plight, it's good we have quality training," Nave said. "In some states, you do an eight-hour class and then you're a dispatcher."
Trooper Corey King, public affairs officer for KSP in Henderson, said the agency has a class in training right now, with plans for more classes in 2022.
"Right now, we are running a class, and we are projected to run two classes next year," King said.
The KSP academy is six months followed by 12 weeks work with a field training officer. With the hiring process included "it does take a year to a year and a half before you can reap the benefits" of having a new trooper, King said.
The agency is focused on recruiting, and on issues such as increasing trooper salaries, King said.
In the recent past, KSP has made changes to its hiring process, such as allowing troopers the opportunity to select posts where they would like to serve, and creating education standards where a trooper graduates from the academy with a college degree.
"We have to be aggressive without numbers, because they are so low," King said.
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