Criminal justice program earns Level 2 certification

Sep. 29—OTTUMWA — All Indian Hills Community College officials could do was hope local law enforcement agencies came through, and then be quiet as the votes from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy council were painstakingly counted Tuesday.

"When it was asked what the council's pleasure was in asking for a vote, there was like a minute of silence," said Josh O'Dell, associate professor in IHCC's criminal justice program. "I'm like, 'This is a problem.'"

"I think we sucked all the air of that room," chuckled Jennifer Wilson, IHCC's executive vice president of business solutions.

In the end, the consternation before the 6-2 vote of approval was worth it, as a two-year project to turn the college's criminal justice training center into a Level 2-certified academy was completed, essentially putting the center on par with the state law enforcement academy.

Unlike a Level 1 academy like the state academy in Johnston where anyone can earn training, a Level 2 academy only takes students who have at least a two-year degree in a criminal justice-related field, and are sponsored by a local law enforcement entity.

However, it's a 10-week program instead of the state's 16, the curriculum and training are the same, it saves counties money by not sending students to the state academy, and students more often than not can be home each night.

The training center was one of the key pieces of the college's 2021 bond referendum to rejuvenate facilities on the Centerville and Ottumwa campuses. But the center wasn't just picked at random; college officials made strengthening law enforcement training in the region a top priority when selling the referendum.

"We've got a lot of local sheriffs and police chiefs. They're looking for qualified folks in law enforcement, and we're very accustomed to training people in industrial maintenance, welding, nursing and so forth," IHCC president Matt Thompson said. "So about 2 1/2 years ago, we started having conversations about what areas were needed from a workforce development angle."

The center opened over the summer, complete with ballistics, fingerprinting, a 3-D simulation and other aspects on the college's north campus by the Ottumwa Regional Airport. O'Dell said currently there are about 60 students currently in the criminal justice program, and the goal will be to have about 20 in the academy during each of the two 10-week segments.

"That's a good number for us, because we also believe in a fairly small instructor-student ratio," O'Dell said. "While it's our intention to serve members in our 10-county region, we would be able to host recruits from pretty much anywhere in Iowa. In theory, someone from Burlington or Keokuk, from a cost-effective and logistics standpoint, it may make more sense to come here."

Instructors will likely need a criminal justice background. O'Dell has worked off and on with the Davis County Sheriff's Department, but has been a criminal justice instructor for over 10 years.

"Predominantly, instructors are going to be past law enforcement officers or someone in the criminal justice field. That could mean they were a lawyer, worked for Department of Human Services, a social worker," he said. "We have to have instructors that come in already with that kind of experience. But then we also require additional training, and it's not just knowing specialized training, but also actually knowing how to use it in a work environment."

The process for becoming certified was grueling, Wilson said. State academy officials made site visits multiple times and the college had to follow rigorous guidelines from the state academy just to get the conversation started. Indian Hills has one of just three Level 2 academies in the state — Hawkeye Community College and Western Iowa Tech are the others.

"There is a standard set and we needed to follow out. You can't go rogue," she said. "There were very complimentary of the work we'd done, the partnerships we have developed.

"One of them asked us, 'What if this doesn't pass?'" Wilson recalled. "Matt said, 'We'll be back.' I don't think they understood why we were so passionate, but we were able to articulate that."

Thompson believes two things put the project over the finish line — the bond referendum passing overwhelmingly, and the widespread support of local law enforcement agencies.

"This thing doesn't pass if we don't have representatives from our 10-county region on that Zoom call, because decentralizing any program is hard," he said. "But I think the law enforcement community spoke very clearly that there was a need, and that we were there to help provide that need.

"Without their voices, this doesn't happen. I'm convinced of that."

O'Dell explained one of those partnerships involving the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and that department's driving program.

"I reached out to Sheriff (Bart) Richmond and said, 'Hey, I know from my work in law enforcement you have this equipment. Is there a way we could contract with you guys to utilize it or borrow it until we could get our own?' O'Dell said. "He said, 'I'll do you one better. If you know you're going to use it for that, how about if we donate it to you, and then we can work out my guys to go over there and do training.'"

All three hope for a boon to the criminal justice program now that it can also train those who have a two-year degree.

"I think we're going to appeal to some individuals who thought, 'I'm a single parent. I can't do this because what am I going to do with my child for 16 weeks?'" Wilson said. "I think it's going to open up some opportunities for people that might not have thought about this profession."

Thompson agreed.

"It's like anything right now. It's hard to hire really great people in any profession, but I think this is a really good model for us to attract people that couldn't go the more transitional route. That they can do this here," he said.

The college is certainly going to take the win because, as Wilson said, "the process isn't for the faint of heart."

"You're on a high for so long and then all of as sudden your crash. It was very highly emotional," Wilson said of the approval. "You put so much work into it. I'm not going to lie. We did some happy dancing.

— Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury