After more than six months and 600 hours of training, 14 basic peace officers were sworn into service on Oct. 6, 2025, as part of a new partnership between the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, Grand River Dam Authority and Northeast Tech’s Pryor Campus.
“To see three organizations like CLEET, GRDA and NT come together to make something like this happen, it truly makes you proud,” said Josh Berg, NT Pryor Adult Education director. “With good conversations and proper planning, we can accomplish a lot to help our communities.”
Major Tyler Brown of the GRDA Police Department approached NT in January 2025 about hosting CLEET’s Basic Academy on a modified schedule after facing a staffing shortage.
“We employ a lot of part-time people to help us with the security of our facilities, but keeping those numbers up is difficult. That’s when we realized we already had a number of off-duty firemen who work for us in a rescue capacity, so we decided to look into how we could get them certified in a dual role,” Brown said. “As firemen, they usually work one day on and two days off. That allowed us to offer the classes where cadets could attend on days off and not use vacation time.”
Cadets came from a variety of organizations in northeastern Oklahoma to participate, while GRDA provided the instructional staff and NT assumed responsibility for preparation, enrollment and classroom space.
As part of the academy, cadets were required to take courses in several areas, including ethics, defensive tactics, law enforcement driver training, active-shooter training, sexual assault investigations and murder investigations.
“It’s not an easy class,” Brown said. “I think I've talked to several of them, and they said this was one of the most challenging classes that they've ever taken, both physically and mentally. It was a big commitment of their time, but fortunately, everybody worked together, and it was a great success.”
Of the 14 graduates, eight were slated to begin working directly for GRDA.
“Having these eight rescue technicians who are trained and certified now as both police officers and rescue technicians helps them serve that dual role for us. That just strengthens our numbers and our ability to have depth on our bench,” Brown said.
Looking ahead, Berg said he hopes to see similar opportunities continue at NT.
“We look forward to expanding similar opportunities in the future,” he said. “I love when our community partners come to us and we are able to fulfill their needs, as well as fulfill our mission of preparing individuals for successful careers!”