KU Law Enforcement Training Center announces 40 September graduates

HUTCHINSON -- Forty new law enforcement officers were honored at a Sept. 23 graduation ceremony at the University of Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in southern Reno County after completing a 14-week basic training program.

The graduates represent 33 municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies from across Kansas. They received certificates for course completion and Kansas law enforcement certification from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Commission, the state's law enforcement licensing authority.

The training course fulfills the 560-hour state-mandated requirement for law enforcement training. Classroom lectures and hands-on applications help train officers to solve the increasingly complex problems they face in the line of duty.

The center is a unit of the KU Continuing Education program. Established in 1968 as the central law enforcement training facility for the state, KLETC is located west of Yoder at a former naval air station.

KLETC directly trains the majority of municipal, county and state law enforcement officers in Kansas and oversees and monitors the training of the remaining officers at seven authorized and certified academy programs operated by local law enforcement agencies and the Kansas Highway Patrol. In addition, KLETC maintains and monitors the employment and training histories of all Kansas law enforcement officers in the Central Registry, created in 1982 by the Kansas Legislature for that purpose.

About 450 officers are trained annually at the center, which offered continuing education and specialized training to more than 2,500 Kansas officers last year.

Funding for the training center is generated from court docket fees from municipal and state courts. No funds from the state's general revenue are used to operate the center.

Twelve graduates granted permission to release their names to the public. Those graduates, their positions and their law enforcement agency by county are:

CHASE COUNTY
Deputy Mark Bolen, Chase County Sheriff's Department

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY
Officer Kevin Rucker, Sedan Police Department

FORD COUNTY
Officer Michael Robbins, Dodge City Police Department

LINCOLN COUNTY
Deputy Anthony Bell, Lincoln County Sheriff's Department

LINN COUNTY
Deputy Paul Filla, Linn County Sheriff's Department

LYON COUNTY
Officer Danny J. Broyles, Emporia State University Police Department

MARSHALL COUNTY
Officer Richard Rockwell, Marysville Police Department

MORTON COUNTY
Patrolman Loren J. Coen, Elkhart Police Department

PHILLIPS COUNTY
Deputy Shane McClintock, Phillips County Sheriff's Department

SALINE COUNTY
Officer Anthony Fontanez, Salina Police Department
Officer Chuck Huen, Salina Police Department

SEWARD COUNTY
Officer Carl J. Wettstein, Liberal Police Department