Madison citizens are expected to notice an increase in officers responding to calls as police recruits enter the first phase of a 14-week-long field-training process.
The Madison Police Department's 35 recruit officers took to the streets March 23 to initiate the five-phase field-training process, according to an April 1 blog post from Interim Chief Randy Gaber.
According to the blog post, the MPD's latest recruit class completed five months and more than 700 hours of scenario-based training in classrooms. The 14-week-long field training includes five different phases that provide recruit officers with additional duties and responsibilities.
The recruit officers are assigned to work alongside field-training officers who promote recruits to the next phases of training after the recruits obtain a thorough understanding of their duties, Gaber said in his blog post.
After the extensive training process, Gaber said in his blog post that the recruits will be well equipped to become new officers by their July 27 graduation.
