Community gets first look at new Fairmont State Police Academy

Jan. 13—FAIRMONT — Next week, classes will kick off at West Virginia's newest police academy.

Fairmont State University officials and faculty gathered in the first floor of Pence Hall on Thursday to celebrate the opening of the university's new police academy. The second such academy in West Virginia.

The first class of 19 cadets will move in next week and begin the 16-week training course to become certified police officers. All 19 inaugural cadets received a full scholarship covering their tuition.

Normally, the cost to attend the academy is $5,000 for the course, including room and board for non-degree seeking conditional officers. When cadets graduate, they not only leave ready to work in law enforcement, they receive 15 college credits.

"There's been a lot of work getting this academy up and running and this is only the second academy like this in the state," said Police Academy Director Jeff McCormick, a former FBI special agent who trained investigators. "There's been a lot of work to get this thing ready and today we're showing off the fruits of their labor."

Prior to Fairmont State opening the academy, the only option for police training was in Charleston. McCormick and the Fairmont State administrators hope to become the center for police training in the northern half of the state.

The main source of cadets will be from police departments across the state. In West Virginia, a department can hire an uncertified officer as long as they complete an academy program within their first year of hire.

McCormick said his capacity will likely cap out at around 25 per semester until more classroom space can be made available.

The academy is housed in Pence Hall, which was a general residence hall until COVID-19. In the last few years, Fairmont State has rearranged its residence options and decided Pence Hall would be the perfect spot to locate the new academy.

"Choosing this building was really about the location on campus. We happened to already have our campus police department in this building and it made sense location wise," Vice President of Student Success Ken Fettig said. "We're excited to see this building utilized for this throughout the spring term."

The dormitory portion of the building will be used by the academy students. Despite losing an entire residence hall through this plan, Fettig said the university isn't short on space for on-campus living for traditional students.

Morrow Hall, the university's oldest residence hall, was reopened this semester as a low-cost option for students choosing to live on campus.

The cadets enrolling in the police academy will follow a strict regimen of early wake-up calls and physical training, scheduled meal times and an 11 p.m. lights out.

Officials were unable to give a budgeted amount allocated to the program, due to this being the first year of the academy, many of the start up costs skewed the numbers.

However, the local law enforcement community believes the investment will pay off quickly. Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine, who attended the open house, said he is happy to see the program finally come together.

"With this [academy] in our backyard, that will allow us to have some input on the training and to use our resources to help this academy be successful," Shine said. "We hope to use this as a sounding board to give ideas to help assess some deficiencies we might see from candidates coming out of the centralized academy in Charleston."

The idea for a second police academy in West Virginia has been on the mind of the Fairmont State Board of Governors since 2016 when the school sent a request to open its own academy to the West Virginia Division of Justice & Community Services.

The DJCS denied the request and Fairmont State sued the organization. The suit ran its way through the system before landing on the docket of the West Virginia Supreme Court in 2019. The court ruled in favor of Fairmont State, allowing them to open the academy.

Just as the plans started to make headway, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and everything was paused. However, the delay resulted in a more timely opening.

After the pandemic, police departments around the state have struggled with filling positions. A program like this attached to a university will help with recruitment of younger candidates as well as shrink costs for the state's northern police departments, which had to send their cadets all the way to Charleston.

"We're really taking a proactive, forward-leaning approach to make sure these officers are prepared for every aspect of the job, not just the stuff you see on TV," McCormick said. "We want to give them the tools not only to survive but thrive in law enforcement and to be a force for good in their communities."

Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.