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Five Officer Candidates Begin Field Training

The Bellevue Police Department has five new officers in field training. Officers Corrigan, Piles and Stalder graduated from the Nebraska Law Enforcement Academy in August. The 14 week block of instruction is a mandatory certification process that officers must complete to become a certified law enforcement officer in the state of Nebraska. Officers Murray and Hargiss are already certified as police officers. Hargiss worked as a patrol officer in Kansas City, Missouri for a year and a half and Murray comes to BPD with 9 years of experience including several years as a SWAT and narcotics officer with the Cheyenne, Wyoming PD.

Lt Mark Elbert, a command officer who oversees BPD’s training program said he has high expectations for all five candidates but he said BPD is especially fortunate to have added experienced officers to its ranks. Elbert said "Many times the learning curve is significantly better with certified hires as they proceed through training."

The five officers are begining 16 weeks of training with a BPD Field Training Officer. The field training is usually the most difficult part of an officer recruit’s training as each recruit is graded every day in 31 different categories by their training officer.

Photos, top from left: Officer candidates Corrigan, Piles and Stalder
Middle from left: Officer candidates Hargiss and Murray