Washington Third District Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, toured the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commision (WSCJTC) Southwest Washington regional law enforcement training academy the day after her primary election win on Wednesday, Aug. 7.
She spent the afternoon speaking with recruits and instructors at the facility in Vancouver. Recruits in the basic law enforcement academy came mostly from Clark County, with a few from surrounding counties, including Gluesenkamp Perez’s home of Skamania County.
Gluesenkamp Perez said she knows the importance of having deputies and officers in rural areas. The Southwest Washington regional law enforcement training academy cuts travel times and the distance from home for recruits by a significant amount when compared to traveling to Burien in the Seattle metro area.
“In our rural communities, a lot of our officers are stretched very, very thin, and we can’t afford to leave any talent on the table when our chiefs and sheriffs find a candidate they believe in,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “We need to get things organized for them. We can’t afford to have these wait times that we’ve seen, and so I’m really glad that we have this facility.”
The basic law enforcement academy is the state’s mandated training academy for all entry-level officers in the state. The Vancouver location opened in January with a class of roughly 30 recruits. In the past, recruited officers and deputies would have to travel to Burien for the five-month program, making recruitment more difficult, especially for those starting a family.
Gluesenkamp Perez asked recruits from both academy classes who had a child under the age of 5, to which a fair number raised their hands, which left the Democratic congresswoman with a lasting impression.
“A lot of young families here are making a sacrifice to enter public service, and it is urgent that we’re supporting the full spectrum,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “We can’t just be thinking about staffing today. We have to be thinking about generational changes. How are we going to get the next generation passed through that institutional knowledge? There’s a lot of things folks learn here. There’s a lot of things they’re going to learn out in the field, and we cannot afford to wait until we have a more urgent wave of retirement. We need to have experienced law enforcement coming through the pipeline.”
The training center has helped add to the law enforcement and corrections pipeline in Southwest Washington already, with a class in each division already graduated since it opened earlier this year. Currently, Washington ranks nearly last in all 50 states for law enforcement personnel per-capita, Gluesenkamp Perez said, adding the state can’t wait to fill the staffing gaps.
“We need to treat the situation with real urgency,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “The burden of traveling for five months to Burien is just another sacrifice (recruits) can’t ask their families to make. I’m very grateful to the people who have helped bring (the center) here and decided to fight to ensure we’ve got access for our rural and small departments across the state, not just in big cities.”
Prior to the Vancouver training center opening, recruits would have to wait upward of eight months to enter the Burien academy, Monica Alexander, Criminal Justice Training Commission executive director, said. Now, recruits only have to wait an estimated 45 days to enter the academy.
Having more officers and deputies on the streets benefits everyone, such as the middle class, Gluesenkamp Perez said. She believes the current shortage of law enforcement personnel has created a burden on families.
“This is hurting middle class families in so many ways, from fentanyl trafficking all the way down to hit-and-run car accidents totaling their cars and leaving normal families in debt,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “There is no way around the space-time continuum. You have to have an adequately staffed department if you want to catch those people and prevent some of the reckless behavior that we see.”
To help combat the problem, Gluesenkamp Perez introduced the bipartisan Invest to Protect Act to help small police departments access funding for training, hiring and retention of recruits, a news release by her office stated. She has also helped introduce bipartisan legislation to support grants for recruiting and training officers and expand access to the program in rural communities.
“No matter where you live, we are all hurt when police departments and sheriff’s departments can’t access training and staff in the way they need to be,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Gluesenkamp Perez, elected in 2022, will face Republican Joe Kent in the general election after previously defeating him by narrow margin.
