Latest News, News The Clark County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is excited to announce that the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) Southwest Washington Regional Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) has its first class scheduled to begin on Nov. 27.
Through the tremendous effort of regional law enforcement partners, local governments, local and state elected officials, and the CJTC, the Southwest Washington Regional Academy (SWRA) has become a reality.
CCSO stated in a news release that the creation of the regional academy is “excellent news for our region and will significantly increase Southwest Washington law enforcement agencies’ ability to recruit deputies and get officers on patrol and working in the community.”
Historically, most recruit deputies have had to attend the academy in Burien, Washington, where local agencies had to compete with agencies across the state for limited academy slots causing sometimes lengthy wait times for academy start dates. The SWRA will also be an opportunity for local law enforcement to be instructors, facilitators and mentors at the Regional Academy, which further grows capabilities in our region
BLEA is Washington’s mandated training academy for all city and county entry-level peace officers in the state. The SWRA will be able to accommodate up to 30 students per class and will run two classes per year. Each class will teach the 720-hour BLEA Curriculum over approximately 18 weeks. The BLEA training model provides a standard training curriculum to ensure all officers have the same base-level understanding of their responsibility to the communities they serve, standards to uphold, and education for effective community-oriented policing.
