Fort Pierce - Tuesday February 20, 2024: The Port St. Lucie Police Department (PSLPD), in coordination with Indian River State College (IRSC), will launch its own, dedicated police training academy class at the IRSC Treasure Coast Public Safety Training Complex beginning in May 2024.
It is the first time that IRSC's Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Academy at the college has agreed to arranged a class of police recruits exclusively for one municipality.
This PSLPD only Basic Law Enforcement Academy will train 30 cadets, out of the 93 who applied during the Department's 'Fast Track to the Badge' promotion, which is still ongoing.
The PSLPD cadets will receive the mandatory Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) basic training Monday through Thursday. On Fridays PSLPD instructors will provide 8-hours of instruction. Overall, the PSLPD cadets will get an additional 300 hours of training at IRSC's Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Academy, before entering the City of Port St. Lucie's 16-week Field Training program.
To Meet the Needs of a Growing Population
In light of Port St. Lucie's surge in population, PSLPD created a Recruiting and Retention program, with the full support of the City Council.
The budget for the police department includes funding for 320 police officers, but PSLPD has filled only 282 of those positions.
The goal of the dedicated officer training program at IRSC is to fill those open positions within the next 5 years. PSLPD wants to raise the officers-to-citizen ration from 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents now, to 1.6 officers per 1,000.
To reach that goal the PSLPD Recruiting Section reached out to the Director of the Criminal Justice Institute, Lisa Deleon, and the Dean of the school, Dr. Raimundo Socorro, to help arrange a training class for the city of Port St. Lucie only.
The tuition, processing fees, and academy equipment for 30 PSLPD cadets will be paid for through the release of funding from the Florida Law Enforcement Academy Scholarship program. Governor DeSantis agreed to provide the funds in an effort to encourage those who would otherwise be unable to financially afford the costs associated with academy.