Jan. 08--Since the Yuba Community College Police Academy was shut down by state officials more than two years ago, taxpayers have spent $20 million on new facilities, but nobody knows when the academy will return -- if ever.
Yuba College officials last week voiced frustration with the lack of progress on the part of the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the agency responsible for overseeing California police academies.
"We'd really like to know what our status is, too," said Miriam Root, a Yuba College spokeswoman. "I'd say we're all frustrated, but remain optimistic that some progress will be made in the next few months."
State officials pulled the academy's certification in September 2009, citing several issues, including "poor" and "inadequate" facilities.
But Yuba officials claim all of the concerns raised by the commission have been addressed, including the pricey new Health and Public Safety building, which opened in August.
"We submitted our changes to POST two years ago, meeting all of their criteria, and we're still waiting and waiting and waiting," said Rolfe Apple, director of the college's justice administration program. "We have students ready to go, a brand new facility and we're just waiting for the green light from POST."
And nobody seems to know how much longer local officials will have to wait for an answer.
POST officials have been conducting an ongoing survey to determine if there is still a need for an academy in Yuba-Sutter, according to Frank Decker, chief of POST's basic training program.
However, Decker did not know how long the study has been in progress, nor did he have any idea when it may be complete. He also acknowledged the lengthy delay is "not typical."
"It's been a workload issue," Decker said Friday. "And the economy."
Decker also cited the recent transfer of Michael Gomez, who had been the commission's representative for the Yuba-Sutter region, as adding roadblocks to the process.
But Gomez was only transferred to a new post last Monday and the issue has been ongoing for two years.
It is also unclear what exactly the state has studied in the intervening years. Decker also acknowledged that POST has not met with any Yuba College officials on the subject, but could not explain why.
College officials have a lengthy "waiting list" of more than 100 students eager to sign up for academy classes.
"I do get phone calls and questions about it every day," said Corrine Gil, administrative secretary for the Justice Administration Department.
Yuba College is allowed to offer certain lower level law enforcement classes and also maintains a complete program for training correctional officers, but students seeking to become patrol-rated officers are simply being sent elsewhere.
Sutter County Sheriff J. Paul Parker said he is not familiar with the issues behind the ongoing delay, but said he believes Yuba-Sutter "deserves" a local police academy.
"It would just give us a better chance to hire and train people locally and stretch our tax dollars locally, rather than sending them to Butte, Sacramento, Napa or Eureka."
Yuba County Sheriff Steve Durfor said local law enforcement agencies have been forced to send their officers and deputies to neighboring communities for their required ongoing training, which has created new expenses for the cash-strapped local agencies.
"While there are some law enforcement courses offered, it's a far cry from what taxpayers invested in and a long way from what it was intended for," Durfor said.
Durfor said it would be "a horrible shame" if the college were to lose the academy entirely.
"I'd be greatly disappointed and I think it would be a completely missed opportunity for (the commission) not to take full advantage of the state-of-the-art facilities," he said.
Commission officials said they simply need more time to complete the survey, but that only seems to fuel local frustrations regarding the $20 million taxpayers have already spent on a facility that is not being used to its full capacity.
"It's bizarre," Apple said. "We've been given no reason why we're still in limbo."
Copyright 2012 - Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
