Public Safety Training Spike

Public Safety Training Spike (Added: August 25, 2009)

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More people are turning to jobs in law enforcement and public safety now than ever before.

By Parul Joshi
Published: August 25, 2009

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In fact, staff members at schools like Pitt Community College say their classes are packed. They say the slumping economy has boosted their school roster.

This is Basic Law Enforcement Training Class Number 95 of Pitt Community College.
These students are part of the college's largest class ever because of people like Hector Lopez.

Lopez says, "I was in the elevator industry and work got slow." He's been out of a job for the past year and a half and wants to turn his law enforcement training into a new career.

According to Lopez, "Sometimes being in law enforcement isn't luxurious but it's something you do because you want to and feel it's something you have to do."

It turns out Lopez's story is a lot like others in his class. Many say recruits are willing to go through the rigorous fitness training because public safety jobs are more secure in a bad economy.

Jeff Robinson is Director of the Public Safety Training Program at Pitt Community College and he says, “The largest class ever our combination of day and night academy was 57. We had 79 to start last week in BLET between day and night academies. That just showed us the economy is causing people…to go into law enforcement."

Robinson says it’s like that in other public safety classes too. A record number of people have enrolled in classes to become anything from firefighters to detention officers. Robinson says, "Law enforcement and public safety it's just one of the things you got to have."

While the reality is no job is recession-proof public safety comes closer than most. Agencies from all over the state have visited the campus to recruit officers. We checked and found the Greenville Police Department wants to fill four positions. The Pitt County Sheriff's Office wants to hire about 40 deputies and detention officers and Lenoir County has one position open.