Future peace officers graduate

Fifteen future peace officers finished skills training on Friday morning, then celebrated graduation that afternoon at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College.

The class of 2022 was the 22nd group of students to participate in the Law Enforcement Skills Training program at FDLTCC.

During the ceremony, graduates Alexis Houle of Duluth, Katie LaTourelle of Saginaw, and Duluth's Key Powless provided commentary on their experience in the program. Former graduate Ian Johnson, of the Duluth Police Department, also shared his reflections as a FDLTCC graduate.

Duluth's Micah Hughes was chosen by his class to receive the Les Northrup Leadership Award for epitomizing leadership, wisdom, mentoring and being a role model to his peers. The same classmates voted for Ian Johnson for the Instructor of the Year award. Johnson, a 2011 FDLTCC graduate and now an officer with the Duluth Police Department, teaches mobile field force, firearms, building searches, traffic stops and emergency vehicle operations.

According to program coordinator Wade Lamirande - who is retiring and will be replaced by Mike Tusken - the program is unique in the number of active law enforcement officers, attorneys and others it brings in as adjunct staff. Lamirande estimated that in their time in the program, students see close to 50 staff with various different backgrounds and experiences. That means they can see how the course material relates to the actual job, whether over the course of someone's career or last night on a shift.

"We have a former FBI agent teaching a class. Prosecutor Jessica Fralich teaches the Minnesota Statutes class paired with a state trooper - who better when it comes to traffic stops? We have attorneys whose caseload is mostly young offenders teaching the juvenile class and lots more," Lamirande earlier told the Pine Knot. "We leverage a lot of great expertise."

The list of skills training topics is long and also includes subjects such as accident investigation, domestic violence investigation and intervention, drug interdiction, DUI detection and field sobriety testing, crime scene investigation, drug and controlled substance investigations, report writing, aerosol chemical weapons and chemical agents, diversity, community policing, professional ethics, and firearms training.

Classroom training and more than 600 hours of skills training are required of all individuals seeking careers as peace officers in Minnesota. After the classroom and skills training, students are required to pass the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training Board exam to be eligible for employment as peace officers in Minnesota.

The motto for this year's tight-knit group of graduates was: "Never let it rest until your good becomes your better, and your better becomes your best."

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Graduates

The following students from the area completed the Law Enforcement Skills program at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College:

Cloquet

Jorden Hernandez

Noah Niemi

Brandon Soulier

Saginaw

Katie LaTourelle