Brain Training

When Daniel Blanck began training last week to become a sheriff’s deputy, he spent almost as much time in the classroom as sweating through the demanding drill formations.

He and 51 other raw recruits took an assortment of tests and drilled themselves in that bane of all law enforcement, memo writing. And it was all for college credit.

“I want a better education,” said Blanck, a 26-year-old Simi Valley resident, stretching his legs after a long morning of taking tests at the Ventura County Criminal Justice Center at Camarillo Airport. “This can only help.”

That’s what Sheriff Bob Brooks likes to hear. The brain-teasing tests that Blanck suffered through are part of a monthlong pre-academy training program that Brooks has initiated in hopes of creating a better-educated force. He also hopes to cut down on a failure rate in sheriff’s academy classes that has reached as high as 50% in recent years.

The changes are motivated by a belief that smart cops make good cops.

“The better educated your law enforcement people are, the fewer citizen complaints you have, the fewer excessive-force complaints you have,” said Jerry Mortensen, co-director of the academy and a retired FBI agent. “The better educated your people are, the better your law enforcement is.”

As part of the emphasis on education, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department has teamed up with the county’s community college district, which supplies counselors for the pre-academy sessions. During the pre-academy cadets will earn five college units, and they will earn 30 units in the six months of academy training.

That will take them halfway to an associate’s degree. The graduates will also have an opportunity to enroll in traditional college classes when they complete the academy.

Sheriff’s officials are optimistic these incentives will lead more rookies to finish out their two-year degrees and work toward a bachelor’s degree.

For now, cadets are only one week into the grueling program.

“I don’t think I or anybody else knows what to expect,” Blanck said. “We do know it’s going to be long hours.”

Cadets include Sheriff’s Department and Simi Valley police candidates. They will put in 40 hours a week of instruction, plus two hours of homework each night. They will also be expected to meet the physical standards of the academy and handle what officers call stress training.

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Blanck, a former contractor, said the payoff will be worth the work. He has been taking classes off and on at Moorpark College for a few years, but with a wife, daughter and a full-time job, squeezing in outside classes has been tough, he said.

In the last two years, Blanck has earned only 12 units. But after academy training is over, working toward a bachelor’s degree will be much easier, he said.

“This will help me jump-start my education.”

Earning credits for academy training once was the norm. Brooks earned college credit when he went through the academy in 1973, but it still took him 12 years to get his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“A lot of us old-timers have that experience,” Brooks said.

The practice ended in 1982, in part because the Sheriff’s Department believed the Ventura County Community College District had gained too much control over the instruction. The Sheriff’s Department was, and still is, adamant about keeping control of the curriculum.

Key to reestablishing the relationship was the hiring in 1996 of Steve Tobias as dean of health science, criminal justice and physical education at Ventura College.

Brooks and Tobias worked together to create the new academy-for-credit program, which is jointly administered by Ventura College and the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s Capt. Linda Oksner, who directs the academy, was in the last cadet class to earn units. When the new crop of students arrived last week, she was happy to see a return to old practices.

“We need our deputies on the education track,” Oksner said. “If we can help them . . . we’re all better off.”

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Still, not everyone is pleased with the new arrangement. The college teacher’s union has protested, arguing that the use of sheriff’s personnel as instructors breaks the district’s contract with the union and undermines teacher security.

“Everybody is happy for the academy, but you cannot violate the contract and put in instructors who aren’t employees of the district,” said Larry Miller, president of the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers.

Union officials were so enraged, they filed an unfair labor practice claim with the Public Employee Relations Board last month. A ruling on the complaint is expected by September.

College district officials say they have received confirmation from the state chancellor’s office that the partnership is authorized by the education code, the set of state laws that govern education.

Ventura County is by no means the first area to give peace officer cadets college credit. A number of other community colleges and districts statewide offer similar programs.

Brooks hopes to work with the community colleges and the new Cal State Channel Islands to establish courses at times that will accommodate peace officers’ odd working hours.

The new cadets are also a boon for the colleges, school officials say. They predict $1.5 million in extra revenue, based on increased enrollment.

Part of that money will go toward building a new public safety training center on the grounds of Camarillo Airport. Plans are still in the early stages.

Cadet Jonathan Witkosky, 21, of Thousand Oaks doesn’t know what will happen over the next seven months, but he does know he has long been attracted to a career in law enforcement. He tried working in a dentist’s office, but found it monotonous.

Although he was nervous his first day, Witkosky said he feels ready. After all, he’s one of only 5% of applicants who made it to the academy.

Witkosky plans to become a career officer and retire in his mid-40s. Finding a second career will be easier with a bachelor’s degree on his resume, he said. For now, he’s going to focus on finishing the academy and earning the college credits.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s happening, even though I’m here,” Witkosky said. “It’s always been a dream.”