Twelve students from the Savannah Technical College Peace Officer Academy celebrated graduating from the program with a completion ceremony Friday.
The two women and 10 men have completed coursework containing the entire Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training (P.O.S.T.) Basic Law Enforcement Training Course, which qualifies them to be state-certified peace officers.
The program, which began in 2009, has graduated 220 P.O.S.T.-certified officers and has a 98 percent placement rate.
The 18-week cohort program utilizes classroom instruction pertaining to criminal justice theory and the prevailing principles of modern law enforcement, as well as practical application of pertinent enforcement skills.
Each cohort selects a fallen officer for whom the graduating class will be named. This cohort elected to honor Lt. Dana Strickland of the Richmond Hill Police Department who died of cancer on Feb. 7. He is survived by his mother, his wife Bernadette and two step children.
For more information about the Peace Officer Academy, visit www.savannahtech.edu/PeaceOfficerAcademy<http://www.savannahtech.edu/Pea... or contact Sheree Rogers at 912-443-5191 or srogers@savannahtech.edu.