Twenty dedicated and courageous individuals graduated from the 30th Basic Course for County Corrections Officers in Monmouth County, New Jersey, on March 4, 2015. This course takes place at the Monmouth County Police Academy.
These men and women underwent 13 weeks of rigorous training to prepare them for their careers in public service. They engaged in weapons, tactics and apprehension training that covered:
- Batons
- Firearms
- Mechanical Restraints
- Handcuffing techniques
They also received training in emergency medical response and unarmed self-defense.
Classroom studies comprised a major part of their curriculum. These correctional officers studied the characteristics of inmates, drug interdiction and identification, contraband and evidence processing, stress management, and law enforcement and ethics.
Three of the new correctional officers received awards for their stellar performance during their training:
- Academics and physical training: Glenn Sonnabend
- Marksmanship: Daniel Shea
- Merit: Joseph Swasinger
These new graduates bring the total to 553 correctional officers who have completed the Monmouth County Basic Course for County Corrections Officers.
These highly selected and trained correctional professionals will serve at two different prisons. Sixteen of them will serve at the nationally accredited Monmouth Correctional Institution. This facility can hold 1,328 inmates and is one of the country’s top ten largest correctional facilities. It is well designed with pod style floor plans that contribute to the safety of the staff and the inmates.
The other four new correctional officers will be located at the Hunterdon County Department of Public Safety Division of Corrections. This facility has a notable program that involves using inmates to pick up deer killed on county roadways. Under the supervision of correctional officers, inmates collected the remains of 715 deer in 2013, saving the county nearly $50,000.