NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — More than 100 certified officers graduated from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy (TLETA) Thursday afternoon at the Al Menah Shrine Temple in Nashville.
This comes as law enforcement departments across the state, even country, are dealing with hiring shortages. This year's TLETA graduating class will serve communities in more than 40 police departments and sheriff offices.
Murfreesboro Police department, which currently has 17 openings, had eight recruits graduate the academy. Rutherford County has one opening, the Clarksville police department- 18 openings, La Vergne police department - 4 openings.
"Once upon a time we would advertise 1 or 2 openings and we might have 300 or 400 applicants, now it's just the opposite. We might advertise 16 or 17 openings and we might have 200 people apply. When the economy is good there's lots of availability of jobs out there. Obviously there's been some controversy with law enforcement in the last few years and in the world of law enforcement we've had to adapt and change with the times," Murfreesboro police Lt. Don Fanning said.
Graduates of Basic Police School Class 1859 will serve the following police departments (PD), sheriffs’ offices (SO), and state agencies:
Bartlett (PD), Bedford County (SO), Bledsoe County (SO), Bolivar (PD), Cannon County (SO), Chester County (SO), Clarksville (PD), Columbia (PD), Cookeville (PD), Crossville (PD), Decatur County (SO), Dickson County (SO), Dickson (PD), Dyer County (SO), Gallatin (PD), Germantown (PD), Giles County (SO), Hardeman County (SO), Henderson County (SO), Hendersonville (PD), Huntingdon (PD), La Vergne (PD), Lawrenceburg (PD), Lenoir City (PD), Livingston (PD), Macon County (SO), McKenzie (PD), Moore County (SO), Mount Pleasant (PD), Munford (PD), Murfreesboro (PD), Robertson County (SO), Rutherford County (SO), Smith County (SO), Smyrna (PD), Sumner County (SO), Tennessee State Parks, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Tullahoma (PD), the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (PD), Weakley County (SO), Westmoreland (PD), Wilson County (SO).
The next Basic Police School class begins March 31, 2019.
