Community college’s law enforcement training program suspended for 5 years
Critical training for new mountain law enforcement officers was compromised
By Jennifer Emert
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HENDERSONVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Critical training for new mountain law enforcement officers was compromised within Blue Ridge Community College’s Basic Law Enforcement Training Program.
News 13 has uncovered excessive violence against cadets and falsified training, leading to state action.
As a result, six Blue Ridge Community College instructors face August hearings, and News 13 uncovered that its program has been suspended for at least five years.
In fact, the Blue Ridge Community College Basic Law Enforcement Training class graduating on July 31, 2024, after being moved to A-B Tech, those students will be A-B Tech graduates, not Blue Ridge Community College graduates.
For months, News 13 has asked the school for transparency. Now, a letter gained in an open records request to the state is shedding new light on what happened.
TRAINING RULES VIOLATED
The violence seen in training video obtained by News 13, according to the North Carolina Criminal Justice Standards Division, not only compromised the health, safety, and welfare of Blue Ridge Community College students. State evaluators found it’s outside the scope of state training objectives.
University of South Carolina Excellence in Policing and Public Safety Senior Advisor Marc Brown told News 13 the same.
“He’s striking the recruit in the head several times,” Brown, Ed.D., said as he watched the video. “Now, the helmets that you’re issued in training weren’t made to take full-on punishment.”
Role players in heavily-padded suits were not certified instructors as state regulations require. Instead, the Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Division claims they were highly-trained in martial arts and used excessive violence against students while staff failed to act or correct them.
It’s a few of the 15 rules the NC Criminal Justice Standards Division says Blue Ridge Community College violated. Others include not using commission-approved lesson plans or ensuring participation.
It wasn’t just Subject Control Arrest Techniques (SCAT) Training that was violent. According to Standard’s investigation, it carried over to other courses, including Patrol Techniques, where, according to the Standards Division, a fall 2023 student fractured their spine. It also raised issues with domestic violence training.
The letter to Blue Ridge Community College’s president, dated May 21, 2024, reveals the Basic Law Enforcement Training program also falsified student participation in the police officer physical ability test and did not ensure each trainee completed the physical ability testing.
“It definitely needs some attention in certain aspects of the entire program,” said a former program graduate who didn’t want to be identified.
Despite the Standards Division raising concerns in the fall of 2023, Blue Ridge Community College didn’t make a single change to its chain of command for certified courses in 2024, according to Standards. The college claims it did make adjustments to the instruction provided and instructors used.
BLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DEFENDS ITS RESPONSE
In at least two statements to News 13, Blue Ridge Community College claims it “paused” its program and self-reported.
The letter obtained in an open records request reveals the program’s accreditation was suspended for five years and affected all commission courses. When given the chance to appeal, Blue Ridge Community College declined.
In a statement, college officials told News 13, “The issues raised in the letter from the Criminal Justice Standards Commission to suspend our program for a period of five years are of great concern to our team and are matters that we are actively working to resolve in order to meet the future needs of our law enforcement partners in the region.”
Documents show six instructors — David Adams, Bryan Baldwin, Joseph Ellis, Danny Godman, Kenneth Hamby, and Matthew Owen — have had their instructors’ certifications suspended pending an August Criminal Justice Standards Division Committee hearing.
The Standards Division warned Blue Ridge Community College it didn’t just put students at risk.
“The point of the basic law enforcement training is to achieve and demonstrate a minimum level of competency for those training to be officers. Failure to verify these places both the students and public at risk for potential incompetence,” the Standards Division said in a statement.
The August hearings will be closed door.
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