Eight students graduate from Basic Law Enforcement program

Eight students recently graduated from the Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) program at Isothermal Community College after completing nearly ten months of training.

The BLET program is the state-mandated course of study for anyone interested in becoming a certified law enforcement officer. The six students who completed the program were trained in 35 topics including criminal law, arrest, search, and seizure, driver training, defense tactics, firearms, and other related law enforcement topics.

The students who earned a graduation certificate for the 673-hour training program are Caleb Buitron, Dustin Segers, Joseph McComas, Brandon Britton, Justin Painter, Cody Keck, Steven Holland and Timothy Silvers.

After an invocation by instructor R.A. "Chip" McIntosh and the National Anthem sung by Isothermal VP Stephen Matheny, the audience was welcomed by Dr. Johnny Smith, dean of Health and Public Services. An overview of the program was given Thomas Tarker, the program's director, before the commencement address from Chief Jay Jackson of the Forest City Police Department. Then, graduate Joseph McComas addressed his classmates.

Individual awards were presented to a number of students for top performance in two categories.

Keck earned the State Exam Award and McComas was named the winner of the Standard of Excellence.

This is the 71st BLET class to graduate from Isothermal Community College since it began conducting the training in the late 1970's.

For information about the next BLET class, contact Brenda McFarland at 828-395-1668 or Thomas Tarker at 828-395-1448.