The 12 members of the final class of Ogeechee Technical College’s Law Enforcement Academy are scheduled to graduate May 4 in the Kennedy Auditorium on the college’s main campus in Statesboro.
OTC President Lori Durden announced last week that the academy, which has trained police officers for nine years, will cease operation at the end of the fiscal year, June 30. The program at Ogeechee Tech’s Evans County campus in Hagan remains certified by the Georgia Peace Officer and Standards and Training Council. But in a press release announcing the decision, Durden cited competition from other Georgia POST-approved academies.
“We have been duplicating services offered at the Regional Academy in Garden City, and at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth, and the cost and time requirement of our program is more for students,” she said in the release. “It has become harder and harder to compete.”
In addition to its main campus in Forsyth, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center operates seven regional academies, one of which is the Savannah academy at Garden City. Ogeechee Tech’s program lasted a full semester, 15-16 weeks, while basic training at GPSTC academies lasts 11 weeks.
With the low enrollment, Ogeechee Tech’s police academy has been operating at a deficit because of the expense of providing instructors and supplies, college officials said.
The news release provided to the Statesboro Herald also announced that a separate program at the main campus, GIS, or geographic information systems, is being eliminated for similar reasons. Ogeechee Tech has offered GIS courses for more than 16 years
“This was not a decision made lightly, or reached without considerable thought,” Durden said in reference to both programs. “It certainly is not something we want to do, but something that we feel we must do to be fiscally responsible for the college.”
The police academy is distinct from Ogeechee Tech’s criminal justice program, which will still be offered on the main campus.
Evans to get diesel
The Evans Technical Education Complex, built for the college and owned by the state, is located at Evans County’s industrial park in Hagan, the town adjacent to Claxton.
The facility’s sign currently marks it the “Logistics and Public Safety” campus. It will continue to be home to the college’s Commercial Truck Driving program and of adult literacy and General Educational Development diploma programs for Evans County, officials said.
An unrelated new program is coming to the campus so that just as many OTC programs will be offered in Evans County, said Vice President for College Advancement Barry Turner.
“We actually are starting a Heavy Diesel Service Technician program that will start on the main campus just for us to get it established, but then the plans are to move it to the Hagan campus,” he said.
The building used for police cadets’ physical training was actually built for the diesel engine technician program, he noted, but it was not established in previous years.
Low enrollment
A 2008-09 overview of the OTC Law Enforcement Academy stated that two classes would be offered a year, for 40 students each. But from fiscal year 2009 through academic year 2016, the program averaged fewer than 21 graduates a year, according to a chart Turner supplied in a reply email.
Enrollment peaked in 2010, when there were 43 graduates, before the numbers dropped to 18 and 19 graduates the next two years. After 30 graduates in academic year 2013, the count dropped again to 13 in 2014, 22 in 2015, and 13 graduates in academic year 2016.
The chart shows 11 graduates so far, but “data not final” for academic year 2017.
For these numbers of completing cadets, the college employed two instructors, an administrative assistant, and, as needed, a number of adjunct instructors for specialty topics such as firearms or breathalyzer use, Turner said.
One advantage technical college academies give students is the ability to earn college credits and Georgia POST certification at the same time.
Competing with free
But apart from that and any specialized courses, Ogeechee Tech has been charging tuition for basic training that would-be officers can get for free if they land a job with a police or sheriff’s department prior to certification.
Georgia Public Safety Training Center academies have a published tuition of $3,093 plus fees of about $700 for their basic law enforcement program.
However, the tuition is for “preservice” students, who do not yet have a job with a law agency, Ray Saxon, director of the GPSTC’s basic training division, explained in an interview. Numbers of those students have been down the last couple of years even at the state academies, he said.
“But I think the reason has been because agencies are shorthanded and are having trouble finding qualified applicants, and so a lot of these people who would have been preservice are able to get a job where the agency sends them rather than paying their own way,” Saxon said.
When an agency such as a police department hires recruits and sends them to GPSTC basic training, the state pays for the training the first time through, he explained. When students fall short of the requirements, the students or the agency that employs them must pay to retake any courses.
The already-employed students also get priority for seats in the state academies.
In Durden’s announcement, she commended the OTC police academy’s faculty and staff and said the decision in no way reflected on their work. She also thanked everyone who has contributed to the program.
Area agencies such as the Statesboro Police Department employ officers who have graduated from Ogeechee Tech’s academy.
“I hate to see any training facility close but definitely understand the decisions that have to be made by the folks running the programs, especially when it comes to financial decisions,” said SPD Deputy Chief Robert W. Bryan. “Ogeechee Tech, the college as a whole, has been a great partner with us, not only for the police department, but also for the city.”
Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.