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Basic Police Training Certification

   The Basic Police Training program is a course of study consisting of more than 600 hours of classroom and lab experience as accredited by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training (CLEST). The program is restricted to law enforcement officers approved by CLEST to enroll in the program. Upon successful completion of this program, law enforcement students meet statutory training requirements and are eligible for state certification as law enforcement officers. Students are eligible to receive additional certifications from other accrediting agencies.

   The Basic Police Training program is conducted twice a year. The course consists of intensive instruction in standard police tactics, firearms, legal, educational, technical and tactical skills, physical education and conditioning, community relations, traffic crash investigation and enforcement, criminal justice system, first aid and safety, and ethics. In each course emphasis is placed upon the student officers achieving excellence in both academic subjects and firearms qualification training. In accordance with mandatory CLEST standards, an officer student must maintain an academic score of at least 70% on all examinations, and consistently fire at least 80% during firearms training. Failure to maintain academic and firearms qualification standards will result in the student officer being dismissed from the program and the employing law enforcement agency to statutorily terminate the student officer’s continued employment as a law enforcement officer.

   Upon successful completion of this intensive program, students are eligible to receive up to 29 credit hours, of which 18 of the credit hours are applicable towards the Associate of Applied Science degree in Criminal Justice.