New academy pipeline changes how Cobb police recruit students

Cobb police teams up with local college for recruiting

The Cobb County Police Department is teaming up with Chattahoochee Technical College to build a seamless pathway from college courses directly into a law enforcement career.

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - The Cobb County Police Department is teaming up with Chattahoochee Tech to build a seamless pathway from college courses directly into a law enforcement career.

What we know:

The partnership allows students in the Public Safety Technology Associate of Applied Science program to take most of their classes at Chattahoochee Tech and the rest at the police academy. This reduces duplicated coursework and ensures academic and forensics training aligns perfectly with academy expectations.

For officers already employed by the police department, the program provides a way to secure additional college credits for the POST classes they complete during academy training. Jason Tanner, executive vice president for instruction, explained that students "will finish the degree when they enroll in the law enforcement academy with Cobb County Police."

While many of the specialized classes are currently up and running, the full target start date for the program is scheduled for the fall semester.

What they're saying:

Instructors use the campus labs to teach students the physical ins and outs of processing crime scenes. "This is where they would process things like fingerprints. Bullet trajectory and forensics, blood splatter that will happen at crime scenes. Bullet damage on cars and glass," Tanner said.

Cobb County Police Officer Aaron Wilson noted that the dynamic benefits both institutions. "If one of our recruits or someone that wants to join Cobb County Police but needs college credit, the post classes that we teach to the recruits, Chattahoochee Tech will also give them college credit for it. It's a win-win for both of us," Wilson said.