BATAVIA, N.Y. — For correctional officers searching for new opportunities, many rural police departments want you to know that they are actively looking for new recruits.

The Rural Police Training Academy at Genesee Community College in Batavia offers evening classes so recruits can maintain their full-time jobs and earn the police training they need to land a new gig.

Sam Chaplain is a campus peace officer at GCC. She was a correctional officer at Fishkill Correctional Facility, but after a year there, she wanted out.

What You Need To Know

  • RPTA offers evening classes 

  • Sworn recruits take part in firearms training, behavioral observation and suspicious activity recognition, hard baton and field training

  • Most all classroom activities are held at the Main Campus at GCC in Batavia

"Everybody knows they are looking for people," RPTA graduate Sam Chaplain said. "It is a short-staffed job, and you are working doubles day in and day out every day. It was wearing me down for a while. So I was like, 'I'm going to take a different route.' "

Chaplain was encouraged to apply for the Rural Police Training Academy. Most of these recruits are already pre-hired as part-time police officers, including an accountant at Gowanda PD and a fire marshal from Monroe County. They go through the gambit of training from PT to evidence collection; tactical training; getting pepper sprayed and tased; learning and knowing penal law; and driver and firearms training all from certified instructors who follow all state division of criminal justice service requirements.

Director Doug Brooks leads the program. He spent 20 years in law enforcement, including as chief of police in Warsaw, all while teaching criminal justice. He has seen many of his academy graduates move onto some big jobs.

"Many of our folks are now department heads, [including] the sheriff of Livingston County, the chief of Batavia, the chief of Le Roy [and] the chief of Warsaw, Arcade [and] Attica," Brooks said. "[They are] all over the place. Oh, SUNY Brockport, the chief and the assistant chief there are both from our Academy."

Chaplain isn't sure where she is headed next, but hopes to get a part-time police officer position close to home.

There are two former correction officers in the class of 18 recruits who graduated Saturday.

Applications are open now for the next recruiting class that begins in April. If you are interested in applying, email rpolice@genesee.edu and an application packet will be mailed to you. Your email should include your name, phone number and preferred email. Seats are limited.