Fairway Police Chief John Simmons congratulated 54 graduates of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center at a March 7 ceremony in the 4-H Encampment Building on the Kansas State Fairgrounds. Deputy Aaron Lamb of the Sumner County Sheriff’s Department was among those recognized.
    The graduates, who began their training course Sept. 10, represented 37 municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies from across Kansas. They were the 195th basic training class of graduates.
    The training center is a unit of University of Kansas Continuing Education. Established in 1968 as the central law enforcement training facility for the state, the center is near Yoder.
    Graduates receive certificates of course completion and Kansas law enforcement certification from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, the state’s law enforcement licensing authority. 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.
    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 350 officers enroll annually in the 14-week basic training program. The center offered continuing education and specialized training to more than 2,500 Kansas officers last 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.