A day in the life of an Iowa Law Enforcement Academy recruit

The Greenfield city council expressed satisfaction at their Dec. 21 meeting that the town has a full police force now.

Dating back three or four years, Greenfield has seen high turnover in its police department, and city leaders have been working to find ways to correct that problem.

Jay Carstens was hired as a non-certified police officer in the fall of 2020. He began classes at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy located at Camp Dodge on Aug. 30, 2021 and graduated Dec. 17, certifying him as an officer.

With the experience he’s also gotten on the job, Carstens said the Academy was a good experience for him.

Carstens said recruits live at Camp Dodge during the week and are allowed to go home on weekends. With good standing in the classroom, recruits are able to pick a night they’re allowed to leave campus on during the week. Being apart from his wife and two children here were among the toughest parts of going.

“You learn a lot,” he said. “It’s just an overall good thing for non-certified officers to go there and get certified. They run a tight ship and a very good one too.”

Carstens said working here nine months gave him an inside track to many of the things taught at the Academy, so it reinforced and expanded upon many of those things.

Both classroom time and hands on training are a part of the Academy, he explained.

“After talking to Chief [Jeff] LaBarge and the deputies at the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, it helped with the Academy, with a few classes, after I had been in a few scenarios,” Carstens said. “I think a little bit of experience helps at the Academy. It makes it easier, for sure.”

Areas of focus at the Academy include firearms training, sex assault, domestic violence, suicide prevention, criminal law, how to fill out a complaint affidavit, and more. Volunteers offer their time to come to the Academy and help carry out real-life scenarios for recruits to train against. Many instructors are former law enforcement officers. Some of the law instructors are former county attorneys.

“Getting out and doing the job is actually where I learned a lot. The Academy puts some fine print on some things that I did do right or I did do wrong,” Carstens said. “It does shape you into being a better officer.”