By Andrea Estes
Boston Globe
BOSTON — It is a training school without new trainees.
The state’s Municipal Police Training Committee, which prepares police recruits from across the state for their new assignments, has not launched a single program for new officers in more than six months.
As the state’s budget crisis has curtailed hiring by most local police departments, demand has dried up for the agency’s 20-week basic training program that has been its mainstay. The schedule on the agency’s website is blank.
Nevertheless, the training committee has continued to keep open its five academies (plus a sixth that doesn’t offer basic training), with more than 25 full-time staffers and a budget of $2.9 million a year, leading some to question why the state is continuing to operate little-used academies.
Public safety officials acknowledge the economy has put a virtual halt on the need for training new recruits. But they say the academies still serve an important role - training veteran officers, who must be recertified periodically in practices such as firearms use and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The academies also offer advanced training in specialized areas such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and narcotics investigations.
Between 7,000 and 8,000 officers took those certification or advanced courses offered by the committee last year, said Kurt Schwartz, the Executive Office of Public Safety’s under secretary for law enforcement and fire services.
By contrast, 183 officers completed a basic training program since the 2009 fiscal year began last July, he said.
The five facilities that offer basic training for municipal police officers are in Randolph, Springfield, Reading, Boylston, and Plymouth. An academy in New Bedford offers courses for veteran officers only.
The next basic recruiting course is not scheduled to take place at any of those locations, each of which has been unable to draw enough local participants. Instead, one course will take place in July at the State Police academy in New Braintree, which has dormitory accommodations, Schwartz said. More than 30 people have signed up, including 10 who are paying their own way because they have not been hired by any police department.
Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit group that is funded by state businesses, said consolidating police training facilities makes sense, especially now.
“We’re not going to be hiring many police for a long time,” he said. “At a time when programs are being cut across all of state government, this appears to be an opportunity for savings with minimal consequences.”
Said Senator Richard Tisei, a Republican of Wakefield: “Given that we’re looking at everything else, we should probably look and see if there are any cost savings or consolidations that can take place here.”
Some local police chiefs say they haven’t used the state’s facilities in years. In the rare instances a police officer position becomes available, towns covered by civil service must offer the job first to laid-off officers, who have already received basic training.
Others say they rarely send their officers to the committee’s facilities, even for in-service programs, because they are too far from their headquarters and police departments have to pay overtime and mileage when officers attend.
Walpole Police Chief Richard Stillman said that 23 towns in the southern suburbs sponsor their own academies for veteran officers in Foxborough.
“The state decided Randolph would be our academy, but you can’t get to Randolph from here in the morning,” he said. “Nobody uses Randolph.”
Northborough Police Chief Mark K. Leahy said his department is trying to save money by doing some training over the Internet, a growing police trend.
“Sending someone to the Boylston academy for a day of in-service [training] requires us to pay salary or overtime,” he said. “We’re trying to do a lot online - everything but practical exercises. It’s hard to practice take-down holds in front of a computer screen.”
Several cities have their own police academies, including Boston, Lowell, Worcester, and Springfield, Leahy said. These departments sometimes invite police from neighboring communities to attend their programs.
Schwartz said the training committee wants to offer more courses online and cut costs in other ways.
The committee is considering consolidating the academies. Last summer, faced with a $600,000 budget gap, the panel approved a plan to close facilities in Boylston, Plymouth, and New Bedford. The plan was reversed after the Legislature appropriated additional funds, Schwartz said.
“Everyone says what we need is more training opportunities and better programs, not less,” he said.
Copyright 2009 Boston Globe