No Police Academy for Earle officer

No Police Academy for Earle officer

City can’t get all its ducks in a row to meet requirements

news@theeveningtimes.com

Citing a lack of information on their part and not enough time to get in all the required documents, Earle will not be sending one of its police officers to West Memphis for training at the police academy.

City Clerk Cynthia Conner said the council had hoped to send Officer Nico Lewis to the academy in West Memphis, but was unable to get all of the paperwork together that they needed to have.

“We were supposed to meet Saturday to discuss this,” said City Clerk Cynthia Conner. “But we didn’t have the information in to West Memphis.”

The city had agreed to sponsor Lewis for the academy, but was not fully aware about what else needed to be done in order to enroll him.

New recruits are required to attend a 13-week basic training class within the first nine months of employment.

The state has two academies in Black River and Camden, but Earle had hoped to send its officer to West Memphis, which recently reinstated its own training academy for the first time in nearly four decades.

West Memphis Police Chief Donald Oakes told the Evening Times that while he would welcome Earle sending the officer, he noted that their academy is two weeks longer than the state program and much harder.

Officers must be full time employees and must be covered by the city’s workmen’s compensation insurance. Officers train 40 hours a week but the city also has to agree to pay any overtime costs in case classes run over.

Earle also was required to turn in copies of Lewis’s

two weeks ago.

physical and psychological test certifications. Lewis would also have needed to pass West Memphis Police Department’s physical training requirements as well.

Earle would also be responsible for paying for his uniform and with proving him with 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Conner said the city did not know anything about the requirements of West Memphis and added that Lewis also failed to get the city the proper documentation he would need in order to attend.

“I hate to see it,” Conner said. “But they should have had the paperwork. And I don’t even think he knew all that he needed to have. We could have avoided all of this.”

The academy started on Monday.

By Mark Randall