New GCSD deputy completes academy training

Submitted photo GRADUATION DAY: Greene County Deputy Leon Dunigan, center, recently graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy's Basic Training Course. Greene County Sheriff Terry Pierce, left, and GCSD Maj. Michael Hasler, right, attended Dunigan's graduation day ceremonies held at the Academy in Plainfield, Ind.

The Academy serves as the center of law enforcement education for Indiana officers. The Academy prepares law enforcement professionals for service through a rigorous training program -- by state law, it is a requirement that all officers complete the course.

In order to attend, an individual must be hired by a law enforcement agency. The agency then sends the officer to the Academy for the basic training program which must be completed within one year of the date when an officer is sworn in.

Greene County Sheriff Terry Pierce and Maj. Michael Hasler were on hand to congratulate Dunigan on his graduation day and welcome him back into regular duty in Greene County.

The Academy's basic course consists of over 600 hours of training in a variety of areas that officers must study in order to graduate. Instruction is included in the major areas of criminal and traffic law, firearms, emergency vehicle operations, physical tactics, EMS awareness and human behavior.

Other police-related subjects studied include accident investigation, criminal investigation, domestic violence and sexual assault, water rescue training, Standardized Field Sobriety Test, crime prevention and drug and narcotics.

The courses include practical exercises as well as classroom instruction.

Prior to 1969, there was little training available for most of the state's law enforcement officers. That year a six-week basic training program began but attendance was voluntary. Attendance and graduation from the course became mandatory in 1972 and since then, the scope of training offered by the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy has grown into a world-class training ground for Indiana's officers.