Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Training And Certification topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State training centers and POST describe new basic academy standards, instructor and scholarship expansions
Summary
Public Safety Training Center, POST and the driver education commission briefed the House committee about a new, longer basic law‑enforcement mandate, expanded jailer training, and Joshua’s Law scholarship increases tied to higher actual collections.
Several training and certification programs told the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee about increased training requirements, the need for more instructors, and related budget items.
The Georgia Public Safety Training Center (PSTC) reported it is implementing a new POST basic mandate that increases hours in the basic peace‑officer curriculum (the transcript states the new hours changed from 1,408 to 1,810 hours and that academies began implementing the new curriculum January 6). Cheryl Greathouse, representing PSTC, said the center needs funds for two additional jailer training instructors and supplies tied to legislation passed last year (Senate Bill 37) and reported an unexpected rent reduction item.
POST (the Peace Officers Standards and Training Council) and the Georgia Sheriff’s Association said they hosted a new Sheriff's Select Academy for newly elected sheriffs and asked for recovery of prior‑year costs for that training. POST’s director said the state’s basic mandate had not been updated since 2006 and that the new curriculum — developed with local law‑enforcement partners — is comprehensive and scenario‑based.
The Georgia Driver’s Education Commission told the committee that Joshua’s Law collections exceeded estimates and that an additional $522,000 of collections would permit roughly 1,300 extra driver‑education scholarships (the commission reported awarding 4,842 scholarships in FY24 and later made a numerical comment that was garbled in the transcript; the commission said it expected to award “approximately 6,2100 scholarships” which appears to be a transcript error — committee staff should confirm exact FY25 estimates).
Committee members asked about classroom and dormitory capacity at training centers, regional academy schedules, supply costs for expanded curricula and whether the additional instructor positions requested by PSTC were new. PSTC said the two jailer instructor positions are new hires to meet expanded training needs and that dormitory space has tightened due to increased on‑campus training demand.
Ending: The committee requested clarification on supply breakdowns and follow‑up estimates for scholarship totals; no formal vote was recorded in the hearing.
