Finger Lakes Law Enforcement Academy Experiencing Recruit Increase
By: Ali Touhey
Updated: March 8, 2013
Ontario County Training Facility--Rebecca Birx has left the world of investments to make an investment into her own community.
"For me personally, I loved the people I worked with but it wasn't in my heart."
At 28-years-old, the Masters in Business graduate quit her job at Merrill Lynch Investing to join the police academy.
She's training to become an Ontario County Sheriff's Deputy.
"I'd already made the decision but I think horrific tragedies like what happened in West Webster don't deter people. It makes you want to do it more. "
She's one of 24 in this year's Finger Lakes Law Enforcement recruitment class.
Training director Charles Koerner said there's been an increased number of recruits answering a call to serve.
"They truly want to help people."
The Finger Lakes Academy spans across five counties.
In this case, these recruits come from 10 different police agencies. They will study and train for nearly 900 hours from February 11th through July 31st.
"Our goal here is to teach them how to react and interact with people," said Koerner.
Defensive training is a crucial part of the program. Recruits will spend more than 100 hours in here learning how to protect themselves.
"We want to give them the best possible training so that they can go out and serve their communities and come home safe at night," Koerner added.
"What we're going to do is help and protect others," said Birx. "So, we get to wake up and go to work, if you want to call it work but basically live our lives to help other people. So, why wouldn't you want to do that? "
"For me personally, I loved the people I worked with but it wasn't in my heart."
At 28-years-old, the Masters in Business graduate quit her job at Merrill Lynch Investing to join the police academy.
She's training to become an Ontario County Sheriff's Deputy.
"I'd already made the decision but I think horrific tragedies like what happened in West Webster don't deter people. It makes you want to do it more. "
She's one of 24 in this year's Finger Lakes Law Enforcement recruitment class.
Training director Charles Koerner said there's been an increased number of recruits answering a call to serve.
"They truly want to help people."
The Finger Lakes Academy spans across five counties.
In this case, these recruits come from 10 different police agencies. They will study and train for nearly 900 hours from February 11th through July 31st.
"Our goal here is to teach them how to react and interact with people," said Koerner.
Defensive training is a crucial part of the program. Recruits will spend more than 100 hours in here learning how to protect themselves.
"We want to give them the best possible training so that they can go out and serve their communities and come home safe at night," Koerner added.
"What we're going to do is help and protect others," said Birx. "So, we get to wake up and go to work, if you want to call it work but basically live our lives to help other people. So, why wouldn't you want to do that? "
