Kentucky Law Enforcement Council Established

Police basic training during the 1960s consisted of handing a newly hired officer a badge and a gun and turning them loose on the streets in their cruiser. The Kentucky Peace Officer’s Standards and Training Council was established on September 1, 1967 with a grant from the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance in the amount of $36,844. Dr. Robert Posey was responsible for obtaining this grant, who choose Robert C. Stone as the Director of the Council. The council name was then changed to the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council.

The first business of the Council was to determine whether or not police officers needed formal training. Its first course was a one-week class to introduce chiefs, sheriffs and mayors to the curriculum and encourage them to send their officers to the training. The next course was a three-week basic training course, but chiefs and sheriffs did not send their officers, saying they said they could not afford them to be gone for a three-week period. In 1968, Director Stone proposed new legislation to the General Assembly to establish mandatory basic training for Kentucky officers. Chiefs, sheriffs and mayors fought this legislation and it failed passage in the General Assembly. In response, Director Stone changed the legislation to make the training voluntary.

In 1972, because of the voluntary nature of this training, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund, or KLEFPF, was created. Initially, because the training was voluntary, the new legislation gave officers additional money to attend annual training in the amount of 15% of the officer’s pay. This was funded from the state via a surcharge on automobile insurance policies. The stipend changed in 1982 to a fixed dollar amount of $2,500, which has increased several times since then. In 2023, Governor Andy Beshear raised it to an all-time high of $4,300. In order to receive the stipend, full time peace officers must complete a forty (40) hour in-service training course annually that is KLEC approved.

Functions and Duties of the Council

The functions and duties of the Council are to prescribe standards for training academies, law enforcement instructors, curriculum, qualifications for attendance and expulsion, voluntary career development programs, monitor the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund and certify police officers, telecommunicators and court security officers. The Council is operated daily by a support staff of fifteen, with the Governor appointing the voting body of the Council to four-year terms. The seats for the voting body of the Council are the Attorney General, the Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, the Director of the Southern Police Institute, the Dean of the College of Justice & Safety of Eastern Kentucky University, the President of the Kentucky Peace Officers’ Association, the President of the Kentucky Association of Chiefs’ of Police, the President of the Fraternal Order of Police, the President of the Kentucky Sheriffs’ Association, the President of the Kentucky Women’s Law Enforcement Network, the United States Attorney for Eastern or Western Districts, a Mayor, a County Judge Executive, three Sheriffs, a member of the State Bar Association, five Chiefs of Police, the Chief of the Owensboro Police Department, the Training Director of the Northern Kentucky Police & Sheriff’s Training Center, the Chief or designee of the Lexington Police Department, the Louisville Metro Police Department, the Bowling Green Law Enforcement Academy and the Commissioner or designee of the Department of Criminal Justice Training, and a Citizen at Large.

Historical Legislation for Law Enforcement

Some historical legislation since the inception of the Council is:

• The Peace Officer Professional Standards (POPS) law that passed on December 1, 1998. This legislation made it mandatory for all officers hired after this date to complete seventeen standards of pre-employment testing prior to being hired, complete basic training within one year of their hire date, and complete forty hours of in-service training annually after basic is completed.

• In 2003, the Career Development Program legislation was passed creating a voluntary career track program to assist officers and public safety dispatchers in meeting specific standards within training, education and experience as they move forward in their career.

• In 2005, the Kentucky Institute for Polygraph Studies was created by Polygraph Examiner Pam Shaw in conjunction with the Kentucky State Police and lasted until 2010. Pam left the office to pursue a private career in polygraph training in 2010 and continues to train Kentucky’s polygraph examiners as well as others nationwide and worldwide.

• On July 15, 2006, the Telecommunications Professional Standards law was passed making it mandatory for all full-time public safety dispatchers hired after this date to complete a basic training academy and eight pre-employment standards prior to attending the academy. They are required to complete eight hours annually under this legislation.

• On June 26, 2007, the Court Security Officer Professional Standards legislation passed in the General Assembly making it mandatory for all currently working court security officers to be required to complete fourteen pre-employment standards and all newly hired court security officers after this date to complete the fourteen pre-employment standards. They then must complete an eighty-hour Court Security Officer Basic Training course within one year of their hire date.

• KRS 15.391, Revocation of Peace Officer Certification, June 26, 2007. This important legislation continues to evolve. It has been updated June 27, 2019, June 29, 2001, July 14, 2022, and June 29, 2023.
  

KLEC Mission Statement

The Kentucky Law Enforcement Council will hold all Kentucky peace officers, law enforcement academies, telecommunicators and their training to the highest standards in the nation. This will be achieved by fostering a culture of uncompromised integrity as well as accountability for our council members, academies, instructors, law enforcement agencies, peace officers and telecommunicators. The Council will remain dedicated to the pursuit of professionalism in law enforcement and in providing un-paralleled educational opportunities to those that protect and serve the citizens of our Commonwealth.

Kentucky Law Enforcement Council Directors:

• Robert C. Stone — July 1968 – 1973

• William Thomas — 1977 – 197?

• John Hiten — 197? – May 14, 1982
  

• Robert Bird — May 15, 1982 – February 1983

• Jack Lancaster — February 1983 – August 1986

• Douglas True — September 1986 – October 1986

• Wendy Frockt — October 1986 – 1988

• Ray Pait — August 1, 1989 – November 1993

• Tim Hockensmith — Short tenure in 1994

• Dennis Mills — August 16, 1995 – June 15, 2002

• Larry Ball — June 16, 2002 – August 1, 2013

• Leslie Gannon — November 4, 2013 – April 1, 2014

• Ken Schwendeman — April 1, 2014 – April 25, 2016

• Dr. Frank Kubala — June 6, 2016 – August 31, 2016

• Fran Root — September 1, 2016 – May 24, 2019

• Phil Crumpton — May 24, 2019 – December 30, 2019

• John Moberly — July 1, 2020 – March 13, 2024​