Course Information

Regional Community Policing Institute
The RCPI at EKU has developed a number of curricula for community policing related training for law enforcement and for community members. This training has been presented through a variety of venues. Training courses have been presented through the Department of Criminal Justice Training annual training calendar in both Basic Training and In-Service Training courses. All DOCJT courses are accredited by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council (KLEC) and qualify as in-service training credits for sworn law enforcement personnel. Training curricula developed by the RCPI at EKU includes the following:
Clandestine Laboratory: Awareness for First Responders
This 4-hour training program prepares public safety first responders to recognize the specialized health and safety problems associated with clandestine laboratories.  Participants will become familiar with the unique hazards associated with clandestine laboratories and methamphetamine production.  Key topics include: background and history of the methamphetamine problem, the effects of methamphetamine, clandestine laboratory identification, methamphetamine manufacturing methods, recognizing and responding to drug-endangered children, and hazards to personnel and the community. For more information, click here.
Community Based Training
Community Based Training is a three-day course dealing with problem solving tactics. The training is offered by RCPI and co-sponsored with the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC). This training directly involves as much of the community as possible and emphasizes citizen involvement. Participants of the course such as law enforcement, the courts, social service educators (and students), interest groups, and other community representatives make up a cross section of the community bringing positive diversity to the block of instruction given.
COP: Kentucky Style (Practical Community Policing)
COP: Kentucky Style is a 13-module self-paced study course available in print/video format. This training course is adaptable for community groups working with local police or sheriff's agencies. Instruction is offered in community policing philosophies, strategies, tactics and organizational concepts to law enforcement officers and interested persons.
Criminal Justice Executive Development Program (CJED)
The Criminal Justice Executive Development Program is an education/training program consisting of four 80-hour modules. Each module engages its participants in topics essential to the development of quality leadership in community policing agencies. The course is eight weeks and will be taught in four two-week sessions, over an eighteen-month period. This program is specifically designed for the administration and managers of small to medium size law enforcement agencies. Its purpose is to provide students with the academic background, management techniques, and leadership skills needed to perform more effectively and efficiently in their positions. A systematic approach is utilized to enhance and facilitate the cooperation between various criminal justice agencies. This program is intellectually and academically challenging and requires active student participation as well as in depth research preparation of material. Program instructors are nationally recognize and have extensive experience with small to medium size agencies.
Domestic Violence
Community Policing to Reduce Domestic Violence is a new course being offered across Kentucky. This features a 16-hour basic course designed to address seven main topics in a two-day block of instruction. Its focus is o public safety, offender accountability, and the reduction of fatalities/ liability through effective partnerships. An additional 24-hour supervisor course will be taught within a three-day period of instruction. This course covers the same seven topics as the first course with an additional four topics to be addressed. Community Policing to reduce Domestic Violence is open to all law enforcement representatives and domestic violence professionals.
Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence/Adult Sexual Assault is a 40-hour course taught by the Department of Criminal Justice Training. This course is designed to address the police response to domestic violence and adult sexual assault. The course emphasizes problem solving and team building with domestic violence service providers in the community.
Ethics for Law Enforcement Executives
Using nationally-developed curricula as a basis for the structure and delivery of ethics and integrity training for executives, the Kentucky RCPI conducts training for chiefs, sheriffs and upper level law enforcement managers. Four critical issues have been incorporated into two “companion” courses for law enforcement leaders that meet the needs of Kentucky chiefs and sheriffs for 40 hours of accredited annual training mandated by the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council (KLEC). These courses include:
Ethics: Force, Complaints and Profiling
This 24-hour course focuses on current important topics in ethical management. One topic area involves Use of Force Issues in a Community Policing Environment that identifies key areas of concern both within the law enforcement agency and the community. The instructors present a multi-faceted model of inter-related components with discussion about use of force, including beliefs, alignment and balance, training, accountability and communication, and leadership with integrity. The case study method allows attendees to identify action steps for their own departments to implement the recommended model. A second topic area, Citizen Complaint Intake and Investigation Issues identifies the value of open citizen complaint intake and investigation processes. Participants discuss a sample process as a tool to design a new one for a specific department as well as to review and strengthen current processes. The third topic area involves Racial Profiling: Issues and Dilemmas, which presents a multi-dimensional model focusing on definitions of racial profiling, data collection and analysis, internal agency issues, and community concerns. These elements are balanced against the pressing demands from criminal activity and laws in a democratic society. The case study method helps participants to examine customized action steps to address racial profiling issues within their departments and the community.
Ethics: Early Warning Systems
This 16-hour course discusses the definition, purposes, and components of early identification intervention systems (EIIS). It reviews a process to identify, intervene, and follow-up with officers who exhibit problematic conduct. The review of data collected by such a system will include supervisory, management, and systemic organizational issues and problems. Attendees have an opportunity to develop a strategy for implementing EIIS in their departments.
Situational Leadership & Ethics for Police Executives
Leadership and ethics continues to be priority training topics for law enforcement leaders. This 40-hour course combines 16 hours of executive level ethics training, based upon nationally developed curricula with 23 hours training on Dr. Paul Hersey’s Situational Leadership® model. This course focuses on helping law enforcement commanders to select effective leadership strategies to increase productivity and to develop specific skills that will assist them in identifying their personnel’s performance needs, while focusing upon ethical dilemmas and other law enforcement considerations.
Leading for Change
Leading for Change is a 16-hour course recognizing the need for change in agencies and emphasizing the process of change. Issues of ethics and integrity in organizational change are taught in order to create an atmosphere that will result in an effective organization. The purpose of this training is to provide tools to aid in the change process sand in avoiding potential pitfalls. This training will apply to slight modifications in daily activities of personnel and major organizational changes. Subject matter for this course includes importance of change, leadership styles, measuring accountability, resistance to change, and ways to overcome it.
Making Communities Safer
Making Communities Safer is a 32-hour in-service training class covering seven topics. It is designed to give officers the elements of instruction leading to a safer community. This course takes a problem solving approach to a wide gamut of community problems which include crime in schools, traffic safety, and safety in the workplace. There are no prerequisites to this course and it is open to police officers of any rank.
Managing for Change
Managing for Change is a 16-hour course taught by the Department of Criminal Justice Training, designed to address the transition to community policing for supervisors and mid-level mangers. Techniques are presented to the students to help them deal with changes resulting from the adoption of new policing strategies. The redesign of basic recruit training is also an emphasis of this course.
Police Ethics and Integrity
The Kentucky RCPI provides ethics-related community policing training to law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders throughout the state. Ethics training has been designed to provide learning opportunities to all levels of law enforcement, including, as often as possible, the members of the communities they serve. Current training includes:
Ethics for the Individual Officer
Key to transforming a law enforcement agency is the full participation, buy-in, training, and performance of its line officers. Ethics for the Individual Officer: A Self Assessment is a nationally-developed 24-hour curriculum that provides the individual officer with an ethics framework, skills in ethical decision-making, and an opportunity to apply those skills in scenario-based ethical dilemmas. Through personal introspection, the course guides participants through a process of self-assessment that requires them to take a closer look at their personal and professional ethics. The training culminates with the development of a personal and confidential action plan for each participant that addresses areas that the officer wishes to change or improve.

This course consists of four modules: Foundations takes the line officer/first line supervisor through a learning and self-assessment process to provide participants with definitions and insights on ethics, misconduct, and ethical dilemmas with the goal of giving them a standard from which to measure their own ethics, beliefs, and attitudes. Decision-Making provides participants with information on moral development and ethical decision making focusing on Kohlberg's six stages of moral development. It also covers various decision-making tools and discusses critical thinking. In Application, students process case studies defining the misconduct, dilemmas (complexities and pressures), and defining moments (those deeply personal moments when we make decisions that define who we are). The Assessment module provides the opportunity to develop a personal ethics action plan.