Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons recently celebrated another graduation from the department’s in-house law enforcement academy. The fifth academy class saw 16 new deputies raise their right hands and take the oath of office at Marcus Point Baptist Church, with over 250 family members and supporters in attendance.
Since launching the academy two years ago, the program has consistently produced top-tier results. “We’ve set the standard for our state certification test scores,” Simmons stated on the (We Don’t) Color On the Dog podcast. “We were number one with the last class, and I’m assuming we’re in the top five now as well.”
From Classroom to Street
Once graduates complete the academy, they enter the Field Training Officer (FTO) program—a carefully structured process designed to transition deputies from classroom learning to real-world policing. Each phase typically lasts four weeks, though timing can vary based on prior experience.
“The first phase, they just ride around and observe for the first couple of weeks, and in the second phase, they’ll do the work. The third phase is a mixture of driving the car,” Simmons explained, noting that the pace depends on each recruit’s experience level and ability to pick up the nuances of law enforcement.
For certified officers from other jurisdictions, the process can be expedited. “We have four on the street now that are already certified. They did an equivalency training here in the state of Florida, and we put them right in the street with a little bit of an enhanced or an expedited field training program.”
Flexibility Transforms Recruitment and Training
The decision to operate an in-house academy has revolutionized the department’s ability to meet staffing needs. Unlike the past, when the office depended on external academies like George Stone Technical College, Simmons can now control class timing and size.
- “It’s all about flexibility. We can start a class when we need to start a class; we can have a class the size that we need to have the class. Sometimes it’s a 10-person class, sometimes it’s a 25-person class,” the sheriff explained. The department can now run up to four classes annually, sometimes overlapping them by a few months.
Building Excellence Through Better Evaluation
The in-house model allows continuous evaluation of recruits throughout their training. “We can put the eyes on these recruits and we can see how they handle stress of a test, how they handle the physical portion of it, the handcuffing portion of it, the decision-making, the driver’s training, the firearms training.”
The office has also implemented a cadet program for applicants aged 18 to 21, allowing the department to evaluate potential deputies before they enter the law enforcement academy. Combined with over 400 applicants in the past year, the program is helping build what Simmons calls a team of heroes:
- “Those who stay will be heroes because that’s really what we’re building here at the sheriff’s office.”
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