Officer Training Requirements

The Brookhaven Police Department is committed to hiring highly qualified and professional police officers, and invests in their continued growth through rigorous annual training requirements.

Training standards for law enforcement officers and agencies are established by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST). Separately, as one of just 145 state-accredited law enforcement agencies, BPD complies with more than a dozen specific training requirements. Those include annual reviews of significant topics such as community policing and use of force policies. Finally, BPD policy requires officers to receive at least 46 continuing education hours every year, more than double the POST requirement.

Every Brookhaven Police Officer is required to complete, or have previously completed, the POST Basic Law Enforcement Training Program. Georgia requires a minimum of 408 hours of basic mandate training, but many of our officers come from agencies with basic academies that are much longer. Following the basic training course, BPD officers participate in a week-long post-academy during which they review policies and procedures specific to Brookhaven. That 40-hour course is followed by 12 weeks of “field training,” during which the trainee officers ride with and work under the direct supervision of a training officer for a minimum of 504 hours (42 twelve-hour shifts).

Separately, BPD officers participate in 32-hours of annual in-person training. This includes training on de-escalation techniques, use of force policy, firearms qualifications, physical-control techniques, and less lethal weapons. Officers also participate in scenario-based training on: first aid, tourniquet application, response to overdose, and response to aggression utilizing our simulator.

BPD is also an avid supporter of the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) program designed in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This 40-hour class is designed to teach officers about mental illness, connect them with mental health service providers who can provide alternatives to arrest, and equip officers with communication tools to help de-escalate situations involving persons in crisis. 

In 2017, BPD purchased a state of the art training simulator that allows officers to engage in simulated high-stress encounters to practice de-escalation. The simulations are run in real time by a training instructor, and on-screen characters are responsive to officers’ conversation or/and verbal commands. The simulator is also compatible with all of our officers’ weapons systems, including OC spray, TASER, handgun, and rifles. This allows officers to select the most appropriate response to a given scenario and practice in a controlled environment. Similarly, several of our in-service training courses have utilized “simunition” rounds, allowing officers to training with paintball style projectiles.