Our Mission
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 and peace officers. 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 Established
Police basic training during the 1960’s 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. At this time Posey 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. Their 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 because 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. Director Stone changed the legislation to make it voluntary. In 1972 because of the nature of this voluntary training, this allowed the beginning of KLEFPF, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund. The training was voluntary so 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 and then after sixteen years to $3,100. The last raise was to $4,000 on July 1, 2018 by Governor Matt Bevin. KLEFPF required basic training and annual in-service training to be mandatory. Basic training went from the 3 week basic to 10 weeks to 16 weeks to 23 weeks and now back to 20 weeks.
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 run daily by a support staff of ten but the Governor appoints 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 United States Attorney for East and West Districts, a Mayor, a County Judge Executive, three Sheriffs, a member of the State Bar Association, five Chiefs of Police and a Citizen at large.