Savannah Tech Peace Officer Academy Honors Graduates

SAVANNAH – Twenty-one students from the Savannah Technical College Peace Officer Academy celebrated graduating from the program with a completion ceremony today.

The three women and 18 men have completed coursework containing the entire Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training (P.O.S.T.) Basic Law Enforcement Training Course. Their successful completion of the program qualifies them to be state-certified peace officers.

This is the 17^th group of students to complete the program since its inception in 2009. To date, the program has graduated 253 P.O.S.T.-certified officers. Many candidates are in various stages of the application process with statewide agencies. Savannah Tech’s Peace Officer Academy has a 98% placement rate.

Each cohort selects a fallen officer for whom the graduating class will be named. The cohorts have a tradition of giving the family of the fallen officer a challenge coin dedicated to the officer. A challenge coin is a symbol of an unbreakable bond of dedication and allegiance among military personnel and law enforcement officers. The challenge coin tradition started as a military tradition in World War I and was later adopted by law enforcement.

This cohort elected to honor APO Ransen Y. Daily Sr., Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) Police Department. He passed away suddenly on June 19, 2013. He is survived by his wife Ayanna and family.

Daily, a New York native, former Army soldier and father of two, was a member of STC’s first Criminal Justice graduating class and was POST-certified in 2005. When interviewed years ago after being hired by the GPA as a peace officer, Daily said he had always been attracted to the field of law enforcement. “My preparation from Savannah Technical College was right on. Everything they went over in the Police Academy, I already knew,” Daily said.

After working nearly a decade in a variety of security jobs, Daily was glad to finally be working as an officer. To him, working at the GPA was a long-anticipated next step. “Now, I feel like I’m making a difference,” said Daily. “To me, getting up every day being happy with what I do, that defines success.”

The Basic Law Enforcement Technical Certificate of Credit provides students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to become competent law enforcement officers. The 18-week cohort program utilizes classroom instruction pertaining to criminal justice theory and the prevailing principles of modern law enforcement, as well as practical application of pertinent enforcement skills. College coursework contains the entire Georgia Peace Officers Standards & Training (P.O.S.T.) Basic Law Enforcement Training Course so that successful completion of the program will qualify the student to be a state-certified peace officer.

For more information about the Peace Officer Academy visit www.savannahtech.edu/PeaceOfficerAcademy or contact Sheree Rogers at 912.443.5191 or srogers@savannahtech.edu.

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#1618 | November 4, 2015

 Basic Law Enforcement: Sheree Rogers
912.443.5191 or srogers@savannahtech.edu

Media Contact: Amy Shaffer, APR
912.443.5512 or ashaffer@savannahtech.edu