Police Training Program to be Expanded

As part of its growing law enforcement sector, CWA is partnering with a foundation launched by members four years ago in California to prepare at-risk youth for careers in policing and corrections.

The non-profit Law Enforcement Apprenticeship Program, started by California Organization of Police and Sheriffs-CWA, gives high school students and young adults a chance to gain basic knowledge and skills needed to pursue a career in public safety, Executive Director Bill Hemby said.

"It's a way of steering them out of possibly falling into a life of crime," he said. "We want to reach out to young men and women who are at risk or who are minorities and give them the confidence they need to seek a job in law enforcement."

About 100 students have graduated from LEAP in southern California. Under the partnership with CWA and its police sector, the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers, the program will be expanded nationally. The next nine-month program is set to begin in September in Sacramento, Calif.

LEAP curriculum includes everything from defensive tactics and radio communications to evidence collection, report writing, cross-cultural communications and traffic enforcement. All courses, materials and job placement help for graduates are free.

CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling presented Hemby with a $50,000 check this month to launch the partnership, saying LEAP "is another brilliant illustration of how CWA law enforcement cares about the community it serves."

"In the tradition of the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers' free fingerprinting program for elementary school children and CWA's ongoing support of the Pediatric Aides Foundation as our Charity of Choice, the LEAP Academy which serves older youth, establishes America's children as the true winners," Easterling said.