New regional law enforcement training facility graduates first class of officers
The first class from Pasco’s new regional law enforcement training center have graduated. The 30 recruits enrolled in May.
Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, was one of many in attendance to watch the new recruits graduate earlier this month.
He told McClatchy about a graduate named Claudia Fuentes, a single mom of two children, who was able to become a police officer as a result of the new training facility in Pasco. The Pasco Police Department had previously attempted to recruit Fuentes, but her only options for training at the time would have been to go to the law enforcement training facility in Burien, and leave her daughters at home.
With the new training facility in Pasco, Lovick said it was the “perfect opportunity for her.”
Having family close by and not having to leave to attend training in another city far from home will be beneficial for many recruits, he said.
“I think it’s going to change the tone and the tenor of what law enforcement is doing,” Lovick said.
Lovick, who served as a Washington State Patrol trooper for 31 years, said he believes satellite facilities will help address understaffing in law enforcement throughout the state, which has many causes.
For one, many officers are retiring. The pandemic also prompted departures, he said. But the state also is trying to reimagine the culture around policing, he said, largely after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020.
“Everybody you talk to is talking about changing the culture of policing,” Lovick said. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast. This is going to change the culture of policing in our state because we’re going to recruit men and women that live in the community, they’re going to train in their community and they’re going to go back and work in that community.”
In July 2022, Gov. Jay Inslee first proposed the idea of introducing four new regional training centers around the state.
Pasco was the first facility to open after the Legislature allocated a little over $10 million to the program during the 2023 legislative session. Other facilities are slated to open in Vancouver, Everett and Bellingham.
Sen. Nikki Torres, the Republican Senator from Pasco, told McClatchy that a centralized training facility has always been a burden for those wanting to become a police officer in other parts of the state because the training is five months and participants can lose out on an income during that time.
She also noted that police departments will be able to recruit a more diverse group of individuals with the satellite training facilities.
Torres said that while law enforcement in the Tri-Cities area isn’t severely understaffed, the area could always use more officers, particularly ones who actually come from the area.
“This is a great tool to have for us to keep continuing on that mission of having community policing and having people that represent the community that look like the community as well,” Torres added. “It is a very much needed community-friendly training center that we definitely need to keep our communities safe and also our police officers safe.”
The next class in Pasco will begin in October, and those recruits are set to graduate next Valentine’s Day. At least eight recruits from Kennewick have already signed up for that class.
This story was originally published September 25, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "New regional law enforcement training facility graduates first class of officers."
