Being a police officer is about more than knowing the law.
It is about a desire to help people in need. It is about creating a safer world for the citizens you protect and serve.
That said, one of the things Wylie Police Chief Anthony Henderson mentioned first when asked about his time at the Collin College Law Enforcement Academy is the time spent studying the law and writing notebooks full of information.
“I think that we wrote the law book over again by the time we were done,” he said. “It really tested if (being a police officer) was something that you really wanted. It was difficult enough that it challenged you, but if you wanted it enough you could achieve it. I think that is what I really liked about it.”
The foundational knowledge he took in and the physical training that he pursued while at the academy – “They pushed us every single day,” Henderson said. “We knew that (our instructor) wasn’t going to allow us to do things half way.” – helped him prepare him for what has become nearly two decades in law enforcement.
He was named chief of police for Wylie about a year and a half ago and he said he still considers some of his contemporary cadets and instructors good friends.
Henderson came to law enforcement through his interest in the fire sciences and emergency medicine. With a history of firefighters in his family, he went into the Collin College Fire Academy and graduated in 1997. Interest in arson investigation led him to the law enforcement academy and after taking a few classes in investigatory technique, he said something clicked for him.
“Even today, after being here for 18 years and being a police chief, sometimes I turn around and say, ‘I really can’t believe we get paid to do for a living what we did as kids playing cops and robbers,’” Henderson said. “I like the fact that you are not sitting behind a desk all of the time.
“The call types might be the same some days, but every call is different and even challenging at times.”
Henderson worked as a reserve officer in Van Alstyne for three months before taking a full-time position with Wylie. He has been with the department ever since and is thankful he came to the city.
“I am very fortunate to work for the city and the citizens of Wylie, and that’s not just a line that I am selling as the chief,” Henderson said. “We have tremendous support from the city management, the city council, the mayor and the citizens. Even with the things that have gone on in Dallas and across the nation, we have seen a strong show of support for what we do on a regular basis. I can’t thank our community enough for that.”
In his time on the force, Henderson said the technology has changed – computers and cameras in cars, digital still cameras which supplement the officers’ reports – but the training from his days in the academy laid the groundwork for the way he has done his job.
Todd Eubanks, director of the Collin College Police Academy since 2014, said that is one of the benefits of structured training for officers.
“What we are teaching at the academy is foundational knowledge to start and build a career in law enforcement,” he said. “That knowledge is something they need to know and something they will use today or 50 years from now if they are still doing this.”
For more than 25 years, the academy has consistently produced cadets for area agencies and self-sponsored cadets, many of whom are hired while still in the academy.
Since graduating its first class in 1990, the academy has expanded from a 400 credit-hour program to one covering 700 credit-hours. In addition to traditional law enforcement skills that it has taught from the beginning – driving, firearms and arrest tactics – the academy has incorporated specialized police training in human relations, crisis intervention, ethics and more. That goes for the in-service training the academy does for active law enforcement officers as well.
“We have some new, innovative programs right now,” Eubanks said. “We are training officers on how to help people with mental health issues. We are also training officers on how to deal with crisis incident stress management in their own lives and their own careers.
“We still do firearms. We still do arrest tactics. We still do all of those things, but we have added to the curriculum in other areas – the human factor, so to speak.”
Eubanks said that the academy’s range of training options will continue to increase with the construction of the Public Safety Training Center in McKinney. Slated to open in the fall of 2018, it will be the home for Collin College’s law enforcement and fire academies with specialized training facilities for both not currently available in the county.
The Law Enforcement Academy section of the facility will include a training “village” with simulated retail spaces, apartment facades, office buildings and other spaces for reality-based training, three indoor firearms ranges and a dedicated defensive tactics room. Eubanks said the reality-based training options in the facility will provide cadets with the chance to work through scenarios they may encounter in the field.
“The whole purpose is to make them confident and competent in their abilities and knowledge,” Eubanks said. “With this facility, we are going to be able to take our training to the next level.”
Even with the change in setting, though, cadets will be expected to fill up pages of notes learning the law. That foundational knowledge is one thing a change of address won’t change.
Visit www.collin.edu/department/lawenforcement/ for more information about the Collin College Law Enforcement Academy.
Reprinted with permission of the Allen Image.