Five of those graduates were from Kansas City, Kan.
The new officers were members of the 227th basic training class at the center. Located one mile west and one mile south of Yoder, near Hutchinson, the center is a division of University of Kansas Continuing Education.
The graduates, who began their training Nov. 4, 2013, represented 37 municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies from across Kansas.
Area graduates are as follows:
- Kenneth Blount, Kansas City. Blount is a patrol officer with the Kansas City Public Schools Police Dept.
- LaTrina Johnson, Kansas City. Johnson is a patrol officer with the Kansas City Public Schools Police Department.
- Mark Ming, Kansas City. Ming is a patrol officer with the Kansas City Public Schools Police Department.
- James Minich, Kansas City. Minich is a deputy with the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department.
- James Shepherd, Kansas City. Shepherd is a deputy with the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department.
The training course fulfills the state requirement for law enforcement training. Classroom lectures and hands-on applications help train officers to solve the increasingly complex problems they face in the line of duty.
Established by the Kansas Legislature in 1968, the center trains the majority of municipal, county and state law enforcement officers in Kansas and oversees the training of the remaining officers at seven authorized and certified academy programs operated by local law enforcement agencies and the Kansas Highway Patrol.
About 300 officers enroll annually in the 14-week basic training program. The center offered continuing education and specialized training to as many as 5,600 Kansas officers each year.
Funding for the training center is generated from court docket fees from municipal and state courts. No funds from the state's general revenue are used to operate the center.
