Public Safety Secures MCOLES Grant     

NMU Public Safety and Police Services has received a $337,000 grant to offer in-service training programs to Upper Peninsula law enforcement personnel. The Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, or MCOLES, provided the funding.

“Michigan currently doesn’t require annual update training, but Northern’s been doing it since the mid-80s,” said Mike Bath (Public Safety and Police Services). “Departments in the U.P. feel the need for refresher training because they don’t have as much experience with felony stops. That’s fortunate, but because it’s not something they do on a regular basis, they want to stay on top of it.”

Bath said the grant will cover instructor fees and supplies needed to provide training to departments within the NMU Public Safety Institute consortium, which covers 15 U.P. counties.    

"Five dollars from each civil infraction goes into a pot,” he explained. “Sixty percent of that pot is divided among the total number of officers in the state to help with training and transportation to training programs. The remaining 40 percent is made available through a competitive grant process. A few years ago, MCOLES went to a consortium concept in awarding grants so that training would be offered to multiple departments within each consortium rather than training departments individually or requiring them to send people long distances for training. The only exceptions are the City of Detroit police department and the Michigan State Police.”

The 2007 training schedule includes the following courses: precision driving, supervisor ethics, crime-scene processing, complete traffic stops, advanced law enforcement training, interview and interrogation techniques, evidence technician training, prism weapons simulator, a survival shooting course and advanced evidence photography. 

"We offer a lot of the training in Marquette, but we also do a number of programs at various locations in the U.P.,” Bath said. “Many of the people working in law enforcement in the U.P. are NMU graduates and they’re appreciative that we can bring the training to them. They’re strapped for cash for professional development as it is, so it helps them save on travel costs. They also have small staffs and it prevents them from having to go without someone or work around schedules for an extended time.”

In addition to in-service training, the NMU Public Safety Institute also operates a regional police academy with a 16-week curriculum sanctioned by MCOLES.