Sgt. Clark Hansen and Chief Officer Doug Tripp@@http://safetyweb.uoregon.edu/contacts@@ set off early Sunday morning to begin training at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem@@http://www.oregon.gov/DPSST/@@. They are the first of a handful of DPS officers who will go through the 16-week program as the next step in the six-year transition to a police force.
As a part of the transition, there are three different tracks to the certification of officers. Tripp and Hansen, who have had no previous official police force experience, are required to go through the 16 weeks of training that any new police officer would be asked to go through.
Officers who came to DPS from other agencies such as the Eugene Police Department have a shorter two-week course that will update them on current police requirements. The last group of people who make up the new police department are those who are transferring directly from other agencies fairly recently, meaning they are already up-to-date on their certification.
“We are ensuring that every police officer meets every standard,” Tripp said. “We’re not looking for any exceptions.”
Although they are looking forward to completing their training, they are also aware of the different culture they want to have for the campus force.
The demanding schedule of the academy will put a strain on these officers’ home lives. Although they are trying to commute back and forth every day, there will be days when they will have to sleep at the academy.
“There are sometimes where training goes late into the evening, and if it starts early the next morning we’re likely not going to come home that night,” Hansen said. “My family has been pretty accepting.”
Even though this change is an immediate and temporary lifestyle change, Tripp expects the transition to create a huge change overall.
“This is an entire lifestyle change for everybody in the department,” Tripp said. “The entire dynamic of the department will be flipped upside down.”
Because this requires extra training and a completely different police force culture, there are members of DPS that are hesitant about the transition.
“When you think about it, the types of people who have signed up for this type of law enforcement work, it’s really different from the population you’re dealing with, assuming a core mission,” Kelly McIver,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Kelly+McIver@@ the communications director for DPS said. “And it will be a huge hurdle to overcome because not all of our officers have a desire to be police officers.”
Although the exact changes for day-to-day operations are yet to be determined, Tripp is aware of the potentially huge impact it will have on each officer’s life. For the moment though, the focus is on the academy and what it can do to help them.
“It’s a chance to build relationships with people from other agencies,” Hansen said. He hasn’t been preparing quite as much as he would have liked to because he, like Tripp, has a job that he is currently still acting in.
“Those of us that are here all have jobs that we’re expected to do,” Hansen said. “It’s been difficult. I’ve been putting off packing and preparing myself until the last minute.”
Hansen is excited to be at the academy, especially with Tripp there to share the experience with.@@cute@@
“I think it’s always great when more than one person from an agency attends the academy,” Hansen said. “The fact that we’re not new in the field, and we actually come from a campus perspective, I really think we have some things to contribute to the learning process as well.”