Mission Statement

The mission of the Training Section is to provide timely work relevant training and education to all members of the sheriff's that insures compliance with state, federal, and office policies. This important and broad responsibility that is continuously updated in a dynamic environment and delivery system.

"Training is the engine that pulls the train."

Responsibilities

The training section is responsible for the developing, administering, and record keeping for all agency members training. The training division additionally develops and administers special training programs for civilians, public awareness, and specialty programs that require development and presentation. The training section is responsible for the development and administration of the Civilian Police Academy, The Civilian Firearms Training Program, and assists with the CCSO Explorer post and the reserve component of the Sheriff's Office.

General Information

The training section of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office continues to play major roles in the development and research of new training procedures, programs, and delivery methods. The training section has been singled out and received national recognition for its efforts and programs in the area of Computer Based Training. (CBT)

In 1993 the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office was the first agency in the nation to utilize the LETN (Law Enforcement Television Network) STTAR (Standard Training, Testing, And Recording) CBT system. The agency remains the largest and longest user of this system in the nation today. See: http://www.pwpl.com/

Mandatory Training

The state of Florida requires all certified law enforcement, certified corrections officers, and parole and probation officers to meet mandatory retraining requirements as a condition of continued employment. (FSS 943.135) The training division schedules, administers and tracks and reports this training to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, (FDLE) and the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, (CJSTC) See: http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/cjst/Rules_and_Policies/ These statutory requirements are continually audited by FDLE to insure compliance.

Career Development/Education

The Career Development and Education is administered by the training office. Programs associated with this element deal with advanced training, and college education. The training office works with local colleges and universities to develop and enhance training and education at the Sheriff's Office

New and other innovative training programs

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Training Office pioneered another state of the art training program in cooperation with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia.

Over the last five years personnel in the training division continued to improve on existing programs. In 1999 a new program dubbed CEdAC was researched and developed. CEdAC is the acronym used for Computer Based Education At Charlotte.

This program was a giant step in making criminal justice training and education available to all personnel at their telecommuting locations. In essence it made the training available anywhere they could get to an Internet connected computer. The Charlotte County Sheriff's and the Levy County Sheriff's Office were national players in the development of this training. While broadening the delivery system the pilot program verified a substantial cost savings over previous methods.

See FDLE/CJSTC rules for mandatory retraining of Florida Officers.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/cjst/Rules_and_Policies/

and Saba News Release at:
http://www.saba.com/english/about/news/2001/news_010306.htm
http://www.saba.com/english/about/news/2002/news_020130.htm

Local media coverage on this project can be viewed here:
http://www.sun-herald.com/newsarchive2/081700/ew7.htm

Concept and position papers outlining these programs

These papers and concepts were developed at the training office and presented to an international audience of leading criminal justice professionals a the following times and locations:
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) New Orleans La. March 2000
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, (ACJS) Washington, DC, April 2001
FDLE Executive Leadership Conference, Orlando, Fl. June 2001

On March 1 the program will begin on an expanded basis statewide expanding on to the national base sometime in the future.

Currently the program offers over nine hundred state of the art courses and many of them can be taken for college credit. More courses are to be added to the program and the courses will be continually updated to meet existing criteria and new subjects, as they become criminal justice issues.

The training office can be contacted by calling the office at main number 639-2101