The first four officers from the Frisco Police Department’s lateral academy were recently sworn in along with nine other officers. The department began the program to attract more officers and speed up the graduation process, the city announced Thursday.
“Today marks a landmark day,” said Frisco police Chief David Shilson at the Aug. 31 ceremony. “This was a good opportunity to bring in this experience from out of state and get them on the streets quicker.”
What would normally take 28 weeks to complete, experienced officers can get through in eight. During the ceremony, 13 officers were sworn in. Out of those, 10 were from other states and four of those officers took part in the lateral academy, according to a YouTube video about the program.
Before being accepted to the academy, recruits must have two years of experience, meet the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement requirements and pass an exam. The department’s recruiting division looks at applicants on a case-by-case basis.
“They have to learn the Texas law,” Shilson said. “We also cover our general orders, our policies here and tactics here, so that they can acclimate to our department.”
Lt. Michael Choate said the lateral academy helps the Frisco Police Department stay competitive, attract high-quality candidates and speed up the process to get an officer in the door and out on the street.
“We look at their backgrounds, see where they’re coming from, see the size of the agency they’re working for, what kind of special qualifications they have, see if they’re a good self-learner and have a lot of good self-initiative,” Choate said.
The lieutenant said the department found that a lot of out-of-state officers have good experience, have worked for great cities and have been trained well.
“This academy helps us leverage that experience and those qualifications they may have and really helps us as a department and a city,” he said.
Shilson said one thing that makes Frisco an appealing city for officers to move is the community support.
“They’re doing their homework on Frisco,” he said. “They’re researching how much the community supports law enforcement. They’re researching how the selected officials support law enforcement. We’ve developed a reputation as a community of being very supportive of public safety.”
Shilson said the department is very selective in picking police officers.
“I think it’s very interesting watching this wide variety of experience kind of mesh together here in our community,” he said, “and I think it’s going to be a tremendous benefit to the citizens of Frisco.”
