Coffey graduates from EKU public safety academy

Twenty-three law enforcement dispatchers including Wade Coffey of Greenup County E911 graduated Friday from the Public Safety Dispatch Academy at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training.

“We hired Wade right out of High School after graduation,” said E911 Director for Greenup County Buford Hurley.

“While in school he did a co-op with us and the Boyd 911 Center. He continues to impress us as he graduated the academy in the top percentile of his class.

“He will only get better with experience and we look forward to him being around for a while,” Hurley added.

This class included 12 trainees of distinction.

The graduates hail from communications centers across the state, and comprise DOCJT’s 123rd telecommunications academy class, which first began in 1999.

The students graduating from the Public Safety Dispatch Academy represent the successful completion of a highly structured and comprehensive curriculum. The five weeks of training consisted of 205 hours of academy instruction to satisfy mandated training requirements. Major training areas included identifying the role and responsibilities of the dispatcher, correct phone and radio procedures, handling emergency and non-emergency calls for service, emergency medical dispatch protocols and use of the state and national criminal databases.

Maysville Police Dispatcher Beth Smith received the academic achievement award and Jill Terry, dispatcher for Campbell County Consolidated Dispatch, received the outstanding portfolio award.

Dispatch basic training is mandatory for any sworn or civilian employee who will dispatch law enforcement officers by radio at a Criminal Justice Information Systems agency. DOCJT also provides in-service and leadership training for Kentucky public safety dispatchers and law enforcement officers.

DOCJT is a state agency located on Eastern Kentucky University’s campus. The agency is the first in the nation to be accredited under the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies’ public safety training program designation. DOCJT also earned accreditation through the International Association for Continuing Education and Training in 2013.