The inaugural class of the new Bowling Green Law Enforcement Academy is set to graduate. The eight men and three women are the first group to complete five months of police training in Bowling Green, rather than attending the state training facility in Richmond.
Bowling Green Police Department Public Information Officer Ronnie Ward said the on-site training reduces the learning curve and gets officers into the community .
"Now with our academy, we'll start from the beginning with how the Bowling Green Police Department does all of their operations, paperwork, other things like that. But equally important, they learn the culture here, and they learn what's important to our citizens here. This helps them get up to speed much quicker."
Ward said the BGPD is actively recruiting officers for the second academy class. Applications are being accepted through November 20th.