A new program director from North Carolina and a series of protocol changes have resulted in Western Dakota Technical College returning to the good graces of the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission.

Commissioners voted unanimously to reinstate the Rapid City school’s articulation agreement during a virtual meeting Wednesday after hearing from new program director Jonni Joyce and school president Ann Bolman.

Board wants to revoke Western Dakota Tech’s fast-track status for its law enforcement program

The agreement allows students in the school’s two-year criminal justice program to jump-start a career as a South Dakota police officer. Students can take reciprocity tests and become certified to work as a South Dakota police officer through the program, allowing them to skip the 13-week basic course at the police academy in Pierre.

Western Dakota Tech is again one of three schools in the state with fast-track articulation agreements, along with Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls and Lake Area Technical College in Watertown.

“We need Western Dakota and we appreciate the steps they’ve taken,” said Attorney General Marty Jackley, who is a member of the commission. “They’ve taken this very seriously and I think these improvements will help officers in the future.”

After two years of back and forth between program administrators and law enforcement training officials, commissioners voted in January to terminate the agreement with the school.

There are four issues underlying the vote:

• Inaccurate or false reports sent to the state by program administrators.
• Students who take the police service certification exam before their final semester.
• Failure to report required student retention information.
• Failure to submit documents confirming teaching qualifications.

Bolman told commissioners on Wednesday that the main shortcoming was communication. For example, the qualifications for part-time teachers were not maintained by the school’s human resources department.

That’s no longer the case, she said. The program’s student retention reports are now submitted to the program director and the school’s vice president, Bolman said, and student grades must be submitted to the program director within 48 hours of a test or assignment.

“Our communication process was lacking and I feel it has been significantly improved,” Bolman said.

Joyce came to Western Dakota Tech this year after teaching policing at two North Carolina schools. She told commissioners her focus will be on accountability, taking a cue from the state’s Basic Policing Training curriculum and increasing the amount of time students spend on “high-risk training areas” such as emergency vehicles and firearms.

“This will improve the success of our students, increase our reciprocity exam pass rates, and also bring qualified people into the job market as professional police officers,” Joyce said.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Rapid City commission member Steve Allender told South Dakota Searchlight he was pleasantly surprised by the school’s vigorous action to address the concerns. The school quickly began working with him and officials in Pierre after the January desegregation, even including Allender, a former Rapid City mayor and police chief, in their interview for Joyce.

“I was a little cynical about the whole thing,” Allender said. “I thought the program had gone downhill and it would take a long time to recover, but this new director has really taken the bull by the horns.”