SAVANNAH — Dan Fogarty’s longtime mission has been to broaden the thin blue line. Career opportunities in law enforcement abound.

“Right now, there is a shortage of law enforcement officers all along the Coastal Empire — in fact, the state of Georgia,” said Fogarty, director of the Savannah Tech Peace Officer Academy.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of police and detectives in Georgia is expected to see an eight percent increase in employment opportunities by 2022. In addition to openings from employment growth, many openings will be created by the need to replace workers who retire and those who leave local agencies for federal jobs and private-sector security jobs.

Fogarty, who has developed peace officers for nearly four decades, is eager to welcome men and women into his highly successful 18-week program.

“We have a 97 percent hire rate at the academy,” he said. “Of the class that just graduated (July 19), sixteen of the eighteen were already employed when they left. If fact, one went to Rincon and one went to Springfield.

“The other two who did not have jobs were going through the hiring process with two departments.”

This Basic Law Enforcement Certificate program offers a first step in law enforcement. It provides students with the necessary skills, standards and knowledge to become qualified, proficiency trained, ethical and competent peace officers in criminal justice careers. 

Savannah Tech is one of five colleges in Georgia with a law enforcement training academy — or LETA. The others in Atlanta, Augusta, Americus and Austell.

“We are a college-based program, which means that the criminal justice degree program and the POST (Police Officer Standards and Training) certification program are embedded within each other,” Fogarty said. “That way, when you finish the program —the eighteen weeks — you come out with 13 class credits, or 42 credit hours, toward your associate of science (degree) in criminal justice with the Technical College System of Georgia.”

Most Savannah Tech Peace Officer Academy graduates work in the Coastal Empire or Atlanta. Some have gone into the federal service.

“We are real proud of our graduates and this particular program gives us the opportunity to work individually with each candidate so that if they have a particular area that we need to concentrate on — say firearms or if their academics need to be shored up — we’ve got more time to help them complete the process to become (POST) certified in the state,” Fogarty said.

Forgarty said it takes a certain temperament to be a successful peace officer.

“You are generally looking for the type of individual who is service oriented and wants to help,” he said. “You are looking for someone who has a definite sense of right and wrong, and tends to be the type of person who is going to get involved versus sitting back.”

It is a good time to enter law enforcement, the director said.

“The departments are providing better salaries and benefits now, and they are really being competitive for the candidate who is interested in coming to them for work,” he said. 

Fogarty said local governments and agencies back their officers much better than those in many of America’s major cities.

“One of the things I can say with complete confidence is that the law enforcement community in this area, Georgia and the Southeast area support law enforcement tremendously,” he said. “The police chiefs and sheriffs really support their staff and back them up.”

Candidates for academy admission aren’t limited by age.

“We had a recent graduate who was sixty-seven years old,” Fogarty said. “What we do here is — we have a PT (physical training) program — build you up. We work toward getting you in shape for any time of physical training that may be required to enter their department. This generally includes anything from a mile-and-a-half run to a three hundred-meter run to a certain amount of push-ups and sit-ups that departments require to pass their physical performance exams.

“We work hard to get you to a point that you can be successful.”

 Savannah Tech is currently enrolling students for the fall semester (Oct. 21-April 3, 2020). It takes about a month for the application process for POST so students are encouraged to apply soon.

For more information contact Nancy Jones (njones@savannahtech.edu or 912-443-5191).