Seventy-one new recruits graduated from Hancock College’s law enforcement, firefighting and paramedic training academies last week, official qualifying them for duty as first responders. The recruits completed their training at Hancock’s Public Safety Training Complex in Lompoc, with 53 cadets from the firefighting and paramedic programs graduating on Dec. 10. A second graduation of 18 new law enforcement recruits was held at the same facility on Dec. 15.
The Hancock College programs are considered to be career and technical education, which local leaders have emphasized as an alternative to four-year college degrees.
The cadets also trained at Hancock’s EMS simulation lab, one of the few in the state located at a community college which includes an ambulance simulator that teaches students how to treat patients while in a moving vehicle, according to Walthers.
The ceremony on Dec. 15 included students who graduated as a part of Hancock’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy class 21-122, which had 18 recruits.
All members of the class were hired by local police agencies, including in Lompoc, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara Airport police departments. Eleven recruits were hired by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. Read more…
