State Agencies Consider Joint Officer Training

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana State Police and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries are exploring the possibility of a joint training academy as a way to recruit new officers and reduce agency costs.

State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson said Wednesday that no date has been set for a possible class, according to The Times-Picayune.

Both agencies haven't held training academies because of the state's budget troubles.

Col. Winton Vidrine, chief of the law enforcement division of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, says he has not had a cadet class in two years. Edmonson says his last class of troopers was in February 2009.

Edmonson says they are talking to the governor's Division of Administration about the joint officer training academy option.