NMU Regional Police Academy Accepting Applications For Recruits

NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

Public Safety Institute

The following information does not supercede the Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) required by the State. The Public Safety Institute has set procedures and requirements to be met in order to be considered for entry into the Regional Police Academy.


Northern Michigan University’s Public Safety Institute holds a 16 week, 900 hour, Regional Police Academy once a year beginning in May with graduation in August. It is designed to provide basic law enforcement training to in-service and pre-service recruits.The next Academy is slated to begin May 2, 2010 with a graduation date of August 18, 2010. Deadline for registration completion is February 15, 2010.


A minimum of an Associates Degree or higher is required upon completion of the Academy, or: a minimum of one year training and experience in the Military Police (contact MCOLES to obtain education waiver), or: the candidate is sponsored by a law enforcement agency – this means being hired and on the payroll, and pass a drug test. Pay stubs will be required throughout the Academy. There are 12 NMU credits in Associate of Applied Science in Law Enforcement granted upon completion of the academy. Additionally there are 12 NMU credits offered to complete a Bachelor’s degree in any major.

Requirements for Admission are as follows: You must be 18 years of age or older; U.S. citizen; High school diploma or GED; No felony convictions; Good moral character; Possess valid Michigan operator’s or chauffeur’s license; Pass a physical examination, which also includes a vision and hearing test; Normal color vision; Weight proportionate to height; Free from mental or emotional disorders; Physical integrity; Pass limited background check; Pass an oral interview.All potential candidates must successfully pass the MCOLES physical fitness test, as well as the MCOLES reading/writing test. NMU is a regional test site for the aforementioned tests.


Selected candidates will be advised of informational meetings held at the Public Safety Institute to give the candidates some information about the Academy and fill out pre-applications of intent.


After receipt of your application of intent, the candidates will be contacted for an orientation meeting (usually held in December) to continue the process. At this time the candidate will be issued a packet of forms to be completed prior to the formal oral interview held in March. These forms include a physical examination signed by an occupational physician stating you are medically able to perform physical training while attending the academy (exceptions are given to, but not limited to, medical conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy). Explanations are given in more detail at the orientation meeting.


The physical examination will also include a statement of vision test results, both corrected and uncorrected which must be correctable to 20/20 and statement indication you have normal color vision, as well as normal hearing.


Additionally an MCOLES Personal History Statement that must be filled out to completion, as well as a completed fingerprint applicant card.


The current curriculum includes: Physical Fitness Training; Firearms; Precision Driving; First Aid and CPR; Police Tactics; Defensive Tactics; Criminal Investigations; Domestic Violence; Traffic Enforcement and Patrol Techniques; Criminal Law and Procedure; Michigan Vehicle Code, and other law enforcement areas.


Academy costs: Academy fee is $4900.00; NMU application fee, if applicable, Uniforms and boots are approximately $300.00. Financial Aid is available through NMU for qualified applicants. A $75.00 dollar scholarship fee is awarded for the MCOLES certification exam.


Additional costs: Housing and food; Physical examination; Hearing examination; Vision examination; Physical fitness test; MCOLES reading/writing test.


After a recruit has met all academy requirements he/she will be administered the MCOLES State Certification Examination. Once the certification exam has been completed and passed by the recruit he/she will be certifiable in Michigan to become a police officer. Certification is granted upon employment by a law enforcement agency.

For more information, contact Lt. Len Dawson, Phone: (906) 227-1408 or e-mail: ldawson@nmu.edu


Web sites to visit: http://www.mcoles.org/ or http://www.nmu.edu/

A Traffic Safety History Lesson

For those of us working in the field of traffic safety, features on vehicles like safety belts, anti-lock brakes, air bags and traction control systems have become so second nature that we don't even think about it.

Yet as recently as 1965, Attorney Ralph Nader wrote a book titled "Unsafe At Any Speed" which gave detailed information about the reluctance of auto manufacturers to spend money on mechanisms that would enhance safety. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed . This groundbreaking book gave rise to a new awareness about the important of consumer protection and advocacy in the automobile industry.

In 1966, Congress passed the Highway Safety Act. This created a highway safety office in each state that was charged with reducing deaths,  injuries and property damage caused by crashes.  In addition, this act estabished nationally what we know today as our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System. In 1967, the Department of Transportation was formed under then-President Lyndon B. Johnson. At that time, over 50,000 persons a year were dying on our roadways. At the signing of the bill, he said,

"...we have tolerated a raging epidemic of highway death … which has killed more of our youth than all other diseases combined. Through the Highway Safety Act, we are going to find out more about highway disease—and we aim to cure it.”

The MI Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) was established in 1969 under Governor William Millikan as part of the Michigan State Police. The 1970 Highway Safety Act formed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), formerly known as the National Highway Safety Bureau.  NHTSA is charged with a variety of roles, including setting and enforcing safety standards, providing grants to state highway safety offices,  investigating safety defects in motor vehicles, setting and enforcing fuel economy standards, investigating odometer fraud, establishing and enforcing vehicle anti-theft regulations and providing consumer information on motor vehicle safety topics. NHTSA also conducts research on driver behavior and traffic safety to develop the most efficient and effective means of bringing about safety improvements.

http://www.usrecallnews.com/2008/06/history-of-the-u-s-national-highway-traffic-safety-administration-nhtsa.html

So there you have it- a short lesson in why we are where we are today. Keeping our highway safe is an important job because of the human toll. It took our country many years to come to that conclusion, but we seem to be doing a pretty good job.

Perhaps Sgt. Joe Friday says it best:

Transport Accident Commission- Australia Christmas 2009 Montage

The following video is a montage of images taken from 20 years of advertising by the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria, Australia. Similar to the United States, Australia has enjoyed a reduction in motor vehicle fatalities since 1989. It is frequently argued that graphic images such as those seen here (WARNING TO VIEWER) do not change driver behavior and data seems to prove that premise.

So perhaps this could instead be seen as a tribute to the work you as traffic safety professionals do every day to make our roads safer. This IS the reality of traffic crashes- lives are lost senselessly and families lose loved ones... The heartbreak is enormous.  YOU make a difference.  



(Thanks to Sgt. John Bruno, Traffic Accident Reconstructionist from MSP 8th District HQ for passing this on)

Pace and Partners produced this montage of traffic safety messages for the Office of Highway Safety Planning. Enjoy!