Chat With The Chief: Civilian Police Academy

The Oklahoma City Police Department is gearing up to host its Community Police Academy, a way for officers to reach out to the community to show how they operate daily.

While completing the academy does not mean you will join the police department, OCPD said it is a way for the community to have the opportunity to understand more about its police force.

OCPD Chief Ron Bacy joined the News 9 team on Friday to share additional information regarding the program, as well as what those who are interested should know.

Q: The class, starting with 70 recruits, is about three times more than the normal class size. Is it enough?

Bacy: Though we're satisfied with what we put in this academy, and we're eager to see what the next academy holds, we plan to hold an even bigger academy, if possible, starting in August. The more people we have, the faster we're able to respond to calls, the fewer cases are assigned to investigators, and the faster they're able to work through this.

Q: How many positions do you need to fill to be fully staffed at the Oklahoma City Police Department?

Bacy: Years ago, our authorized strength was 1,100, and the City Council approved our authorized strength to increase to 1,235. However, shortly after, there was a hiring freeze, and we never hired those 135 positions. As of last week, we were somewhere around 150 vacancies, and that includes recruits who are in various stages of training. We have a recruiting class that just finished, the field training officer program, we have one that's graduating on Feb. 13., and of course, the newest academy starting with 70 recruits.

Q: 70 is pretty significant, with the normal size at around 20. What would you attribute to the growth in this particular recruiting class, especially at a time when we've seen Oklahoma City Police making somewhat controversial headlines?

Bacy: In spite of any headlines that may have been out there, we have an amazing community that supports our police department, and we know that our officers work very hard and show up in times of need. The recent tornadoes were a great example of that, and so we have their ambassadors for this police department. We have an amazing recruiting unit that goes out and works very hard to garner interest in these programs, and we have our cadet program where we catch them in the vocational schools very early, and we work with them from 15 and 16 up, and then they join our cadet program. We've seen several of them apply and get hired to our police department, so whereas we're not just recruiting people who are 21 years old, we're recruiting them in their teenage years and helping them get to the point that they become great recruits, and we're seeing the payoff in that now.

Q: For that particular event that's coming up in August, what sort of turnout are you hoping for?

Bacy: We're hoping to have a bigger class. Oklahoma City is a great place to live, which is why you see the larger numbers. Shortages in law enforcement staffing is a nationwide trend, but in Oklahoma City, we always find a way to overcome and rise up and do better. That's just part of this community. We're resilient.

For more information on OCPD's Community Police Academy, click here. For those interested in joining OCPD, click here.