More students enrolled in current MU Law Enforcement training class

The start of 2017 is looking good for the MU Law Enforcement Training Institute as more students are enrolled in the current class than this time last year.

ABC 17 News has been following these enrollment numbers since last year.

When we checked back in with training institute officials they said the Columbia Police Department is partly to thank because of it’s sponsoring five students. Those sponsorships usually takes place during the fall session.

The current January class has 20 students enrolled, which is six more than last January.

The institute says part of the reason for the higher number is more participation from police departments across the state.

“Police departments have stepped up their recruiting,” Adam Duncan, with the M-U Law Enforcement Training Institute told ABC 17 News. “We are seeing a greater proportion of students that are sponsored by the department than we had the last couple of classes.”

Duncan also says the institute struggles with recruiting more diverse students.

“The major benefit of having a diverse group of officers is that is streamlines the process toward having a conversation with all members of the community,” he said.

It’s something that the Columbia Police Department also struggles with. On Tuesday night’s Columbia City Council meeting Clyde Ruffin, councilman for Ward 1, asked Columbia Police Chief Burton how the diversity recruitment was going with the new officers coming in.

Chief Burton responded with, “It’s not good, not good. We are just not getting applicants.”

Duncan has similar views to those held by Chief Burton but agrees that early intervention in school and after-school programs are a good start, especially if recruits come from a background of police hostility.

“It’s a conversation you have to have,” he said. “You have to ask why someone has a bad taste in law enforcement. Whoever that person is, you have to ask them why.”

Currently the M-U LETI has five female students enrolled, something that has been a struggle for years.

ABC 17 News reached out to the Columbia Police Department to see about it’s recruitment efforts for the four new positions it gained.

In an email response the department says it isn’t aren’t doing anything special but is continuing to recruit at the surrounding military bases.