The St. Charles County Police Department is working diligently to assure the public that its officers continue to know how to correctly respond to all the issues that could face them on any given shift.
“This is a different world than it was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even last year,” says St. Charles County Police Chief Kurt Frisz. “We are in the public eye and being scrutinized more than ever before. We want everyone to feel safe and secure and know that we are maintaining the highest of standards, are continuing dialogue with residents, and undergoing strenuous testing to make us even better.”
Every police officer in the State of Missouri is licensed through the Missouri Department of Public Safety (DPS) Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), which establishes training requirements to become a police officer and standards on continuing education. To maintain a valid peace officer license, a commissioned police officer is required to complete 24 hours of continuing education every year. This education includes Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), legal studies, technical skills, interpersonal skills, racial profiling, firearm skills, tasers, infant fatality, bomb scenes, defensive driving, mental health issues, crowd management and more. The average St. Charles County Police Officer completes at least 62 hours of training each year.
But in St. Charles County, 24 hours is just a minimum. “We always go above and beyond when it comes to training – we don’t stop at just the mandatory 24 hours but offer much more,” says St. Charles County Police Department Training Officer Cpl. Andrea Carver. Carver’s job is to make certain all 144 commissioned officers are current in their training, and schedules County officers to go to outside training at schools across the country so they can return certified to instruct in-house classes.
“I’ve been a commissioned police officer for 11 years,” Carver says, “and became the training officer on May 1 of this year. This job is important to me because I know how important training is to everyone – officers, residents, County government alike. I am impressed with the commitment of County Government and the department.”
As evidence of this commitment, the St. Charles County Police Department earned Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA®) in 2018. This prestigious award signifies that the department met the Commission’s standards for professional excellence in public safety, having completed a rigorous accreditation process. The department is continuously reviewed by the Commission.