The four from Marshall County earned 200 hours of training taking part in the Kosciusko County Reserve Academy. The program ran from January to May and was hosted by the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, who extended invitations to support the surrounding county’s reserve programs.
The Marshall County Officers, along with officers from Fulton County, Syracuse and Silver Lake, all took courses on their own time without pay, eight hours a week with eight-hour sessions every other Saturday.
“There was just everything law enforcement related,” said Price. “It was a lot more in-depth and formal training than most of us had had before. It was everything from emergency tactics to CPR and first aid. The fire arms section was a lot more in-depth than courses I’ve had in the past.”
Of course, the fun for the officers was at the airport.
“The driving portion was something that I’d never had before and it was a lot of fun,” said Price. “We got the cars out on the airport and went through some maneuvers. That was a lot of fun.”
Price must have had even more fun than the rest as at the end of the course he won the outstanding academic achievement award for achieving the overall highest classroom score. He also won the Phillip Hochstetler Memorial Award voted on by fellow students for leadership and outstanding classroom performance.
“A lot of the information was refresher stuff for us, but digging a lot more in depth,” said Price. “It was just something we all wanted to do to better serve the people of Marshall County.”