Joe Marchant, reserve training liaison for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Reserve Academy, put 14 new reserve recruits through their paces Tuesday night at the first meeting of the eight-month training academy.
“We’ve got 14 in this class,” Marchant said, looking very much like a coach with a whistle around his neck and surrounded by students with tackling dummies. “That includes people from the Dallas County Sheriff’s office, Stuart Police Department, Guthrie County Sheriff’s office and Adair County Sheriff’s office.”
Marchant said the academy course — a combination of classroom work and weapons training — qualifies trainees to work for a variety of law enforcement agencies. He said most attendees seek to work with police or sheriffs, but past academies have included students seeking qualification with the Iowa Department of Transportation and as game wardens for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The classes meet twice weekly for eight months, he said, adding up to 80 hours of class time. Tuesday night’s opening meeting started with “nomenclature,” Marchant said, and included some field training on the lawn of the Dallas County Human Services Campus.
Marchant said trainees work through a variety of modules, such as criminal law, court testimony, CPR, community policing and others, with tests at the end of each module. Other training areas include OWI detection and impairment, OC chemical spray — commonly called pepper spray — defensive baton, firearms and taser.
For more information on the call the Dallas County Sheriff’s Reserve Academy, call 515-993-4771.
