AURORA | Nearly three dozen aspiring Aurora police officers in their fifth week of a six-month-long training academy have shifted from the classroom to ride-alongs and virtual learning in the wake of state restrictions implemented to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.
The 32 recruits currently in Aurora’s police academy have been doing ride-alongs with patrol officers this week after state Peace Officer Standards and Training officials mandated academies across the state to amend their procedures amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
POST officials outlined the directives in a letter sent Monday night, according to Officer Matt Longshore, spokesman for the Aurora Police Department.
The Aurora recruits will begin live, online learning with instructors next week, Longshore said. In the meantime, they’re riding with current patrol officers and learning the lay of the city, according to Longshore.
Several training sessions that are required to be conducted in person – including handcuffing and building searches – are being rescheduled until POST changes its in-person learning restrictions.
The online learning will take place until the end of next month, Longshore said.
“If the restrictions get lifted prior to that, then classroom learning will resume,” he wrote in an email.
Another academy class in Aurora is slated to begin training on Aug. 16. That is still scheduled to take place, according to Longshore.
He said its possible the current academy could get delayed if recruits are precluded from finishing the mandatory, in-person training.
“We’ll adjust the academy, whether that’s more ride-alongs or more interactive learning — I don’t know how that looks,” he said. “This is kind of new, unchartered territory for us.”
Last year, former Police Chief Nick Metz lamented losing officers for better pay and benefits in Denver. The primary bargaining union for Aurora cops is slated to renegotiate the current contract this spring.
The state requires recruits to get at least 556 hours of training to become a peace officer in Colorado.
Aurora’s academy spans 26 weeks. All of the Aurora recruits that have taken the state POST certification test in the past three years have passed.
Aurora test scores ranked 7th in the state in recent years among all police academies.
Correction: Due to a formatting error, a previous version of this story inaccurately reported Aurora’s academy ranking. Aurora’s police academy was ranked 7th in the state in 2019 based on recent test scores.