Department of Public Safety approves Crowder POST program

(From Crowder College)

Crowder College has been approved by the Missouri Department of Public Safety as a provider of Continuing Law Enforcement Education (CLEE) training.

Crowder had representatives of the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Program on campus earlier this year for a site visit. Approval was presented to the POST Commission in November and then recommended to Missouri Department of Public Safety Director, Lane Roberts, for a one year period.

POST is a regulatory program with responsibility for licensing peace officers, ensuring compliance with peace officer continuing education requirements, and conducting investigations for disciplining the licenses of peace officers. The POST Program also licenses law enforcement basic training centers, basic training instructors, approves law enforcement training curricula, and provides staff support for the POST Commission.

"Becoming a POST approved provider allows Crowder College to offer full service training for or local emergency services departments close to home with quality instructors," stated Oren Barnes, Criminal Justice Instructor, Crowder College.

Newton County Sheriff’s Office, Captain Richard Leavens said, "The Newton County Sheriff's Office is excited about the opportunities that Crowder College's status as a POST approved training provider offers our agency and other agencies in this area. We look forward to working with them as a significant source of training for our deputies.”

“The Neosho Police Department has been attending training at the Crowder Campus in Newton and McDonald Counties over the past year. The training we have received thus far from Crowder College has been exceptional. By also having a POST provider for continuing education within our City Limits has also been a savings for our department. With the new mandates that will go into effect in 2017 by having this facility will be extremely beneficial to the surrounding agencies,” stated Neosho Chief of Police, David Kennedy.

Crowder College offers an Associate of Arts degree in Criminal Justice as well as a certificate. Crowder’s Technical Education Center also offers high school students the opportunity to take Criminal Justice classes as dual credit.