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Marquette County Sheriff’s Office hosts first Corrections Academy

Sgt. Chris Reynolds of the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office leads the Marquette Corrections Academy class in CPR and first aid training Thursday morning at the Ramada Inn in Marquette. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office hosted its first Corrections Academy in Marquette this week.

Tuesday through Thursday, corrections officers from around the Upper Peninsula gathered at the Ramada Inn of Marquette to attend the academy led by trainers from the MCSO.

Officers from sheriff’s offices in Houghton, Delta, Gogebic, Marquette, Dickinson, Alger, Menominee, Iron, Baraga and Ontonagon counties were in attendance for a total class of 17.

Corrections officers are required by the Michigan Sheriff’s Coordinating and Training Counsel to successfully complete a 160-hour Corrections Academy within one year of employment, explained Lt. Brian Steede with the MCSO.

“Some of the topics that we’re teaching are booking and intake, custody and security, report writing, correctional law, CPR, defensive tactics, stress management, suicide awareness and fire safety training,” Steede said.

Students from the academy were also able to be trained in pat searching and visited the Marquette County Jail to practice shaking down cells and searching for contraband.

“By having an officer come to the training, it increases their professionalism. They figure out skills to deal with inmates, whether it be medical needs, it could be psychological needs,” Steede said. “We deal with a lot of mentally ill in our jails, so they’re getting tools that they can help cope with when dealing with people mentally ill, as well as increasing our professionalism just through training. Another benefit is you’re meeting other people from other counties. If you have an issue, you can bring it up to them and maybe see how they handle it.”

The idea for a locally ran academy came from Captain Gregg Gustafson, the Marquette County Jail Administrator who saw a need for a U.P. academy and approached the Michigan Sheriff’s Coordinating and Training Counsel.

The academy is now held Tuesday through Thursday for five weeks, with the final week taking place Monday through Friday to teach defensive tactics.

Running a shorter weekly academy allows officers to still work weekends with their office when they come back from training.

“Some of the stuff they learn here, they can go back and it’s fresh in their head and they can work with it right away,” Steede said.

Though this is the first academy solely hosted by the MCSO and the only one in the U.P., academies were previously hosted by Northern Michigan University in collaboration with the sheriff’s office. The new academy allows the office a bit more control over scheduling, Steede said.

Officers are also sent to Lansing to complete the academy if necessary, but a locally hosted academy is a cost saving measure.

“Some of the benefits of it are the county doesn’t have to send people downstate so you have the travel costs associated with hotels and traveling hours on the road. It’s close by so it helps with cost reduction,” Steede said.

Overall, those who attend the Corrections Academy gain a better understanding of the importance of corrections and how it helps the communities they work within, Steede added.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.

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