The Kentucky State Police Academy presented diplomas to 45 new troopers at ceremonies held today in Frankfort. Their addition to the force brings the agency’s strength to a total of 880 troopers serving the citizens of the Commonwealth.
Post 1 welcomes Trooper Aaron S. Acree, Unit 417, of Cadiz; Trooper Aaron P. Jestes, Unit 369, of Benton; and Trooper Justin M. Rundles, Unit 966, of Kevil.
The new troopers are part of the agency’s 93rd cadet class. They started a 23-week training cycle on May 24, 2015 in a class that consisted of 70 cadets. Twenty-five resigned during the weeks of mental and physical challenges that followed.
The training included more than 1,000 hours of classroom and field study in subjects such as constitutional law, juvenile and traffic law, use of force, weapons training, defensive tactics, first aid, high speed vehicle pursuit, criminal investigation, computer literacy, hostage negotiations, evidence collection, radio procedures, search and seizure, crash investigation, drug identification, traffic control, crowd control, armed robbery response, land navigation, electronic crimes, sex crimes, hate crimes, domestic violence, bomb threats and hazardous materials.
Each new trooper will be supervised by a field training officer for eight weeks. At the completion of their field training program they will be released to their respective assignments in Post 1.