Two Jefferson Police Officers recently graduated from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

Police Chief Mark Clouse says officers Andrew Chapman and Cole Jackson graduated from the eight-week program in Waterloo, making them fully certified officers. While the department is back to being fully staffed with eight officers, Clouse explains what happens to the 24/7 department when officers are at the academy.

“It does put a strain on our department (and) it puts a strain on the officers that are still here. It doesn’t allow the other officers that we have working any vacation time (or) just a day off. They are picking up extra shifts, they are picking up extra duties, the command staff is tasked more with covering some shifts and different things. So yeah, it creates a huge strain on our department.”

With Chapman and Jackson each having a criminal justice degree, that qualified them for the shortened academy of eight weeks. Clouse points out, the newest officer, Ashley Wilson, doesn’t have a criminal justice degree, which means she will be attending the longer training program of 16 weeks, plus a possible extension for mental health training.

“The state made some changes here a few years ago, and in my opinion really hurt our mental health system here in Iowa. And that all just kind of trickles down and gets pushed down to local agencies. You have to be somewhat trained to deal with those types of things, so they keep adding training.”

Clouse says Wilson will leave for the academy this spring.