CLEET Holding Fewer Academies Because Of Funding Crunch

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The agency that trains police officers in Oklahoma will have fewer training academies because it didn't get the amount of money it requested from the Legislature.<br/><br/>The

Friday, June 30th 2006, 9:37 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The agency that trains police officers in Oklahoma will have fewer training academies because it didn't get the amount of money it requested from the Legislature.

The Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training didn't get the $2.9-million it asked for as it gets ready to open a new training complex in Ada.

Lawmakers approved $450,000 for CLEET and officials say that's enough for two law officer training sessions instead of the four that were planned.

CLEET board chairman Clayton Johnson says about 200 officers will go through the academy this year compared to more than 450 last year.

CLEET trains officers for all 77 county sheriff's departments in Oklahoma and for every police department except Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman, which have their own academies.

State law requires all officers to complete at least 16 hours of training each year and Johnson says police may have to find another way to meet the requirement.