By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The soon to be new commander of Missouri Western's Law Enforcement Academy strives to help the academy continue to grow.
Lonnie Bishop will begin his duties as commander of the academy on June 16th. One thing Bishop hopes to do is be more involved in the community.
Bishop says one of his goals is to get cadets out in the community, and potentially provide learning opportunities for community members.
"I would like to be able to provide maybe community interactions, provide courses, we see a lot of people getting scams, maybe put on a course where community can come in and say hey teach me about these scams," Bishop tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "Because we have a lot of resources here and we can provide those and say hey you know the FBI has come out with this warning on this scam or things like that and provide that to the community."
Bishop says his biggest goals with the academy is to continue growing what former commander the late Joseph King started developing.
Bishop has been an instructor at Missouri Western's Law Enforcement Academy for two years, starting next week he'll become its new commander.
Bishop says one of his goals in his new position is to continue growing partnerships in the community that are already strong.
"I want to be able to provide the police chief, I want to provide Sheriff Puett, highway patrol, any unit that's out there if you have a training gap let's see if we can work together and fill that training gap," Bishop explains. "Are you getting what you need? Are your cadets meeting your expectations?"
Bishop says in return the community also helps the academy get vehicles that otherwise it would have to purchase for cadets to utilize.
Bishop will lead his first class of future law enforcement officers starting July 10th.
Bishop says while classes do fill up quickly with cadets, one thing that could be done to expand is doubling up the number of classes, though that could be difficult.
"Because I also have a limited structuring staff and I want to make sure I'm nurturing my instructors and taking care of them and listening to them and getting their needs met," Bishop says. "And then in return they can help me expand those classes or maybe make more available."
Bishop says the class beginning in July is already filling up quickly.
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