Gov. Beshear, Department of Criminal Justice Training Announce 24 Officers Graduate From Academy of Police Supervision
On August 21, Gov. Andy Beshear and the Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT) announced that 24 law enforcement officers from agencies across the commonwealth graduated from the Academy of Police Supervision Class 108.
“Your commitment to protecting your communities through leadership is inspiring,” Gov. Beshear said. “Thank you for your continued service to our commonwealth and your dedication to making our state a safer place.”
The Academy of Police Supervision, also called the sergeant’s academy, is a three-week, 122-hour training program targeted for newly promoted sergeants or officers who are on their agency’s promotion list to become sergeants. The academy was launched in 2003 as a leadership course aimed at developing and shaping current and future leaders in law enforcement agencies across the commonwealth.
The program provides a deep dive into how to positively influence groups of people, as well as how to apply situational leadership, demonstrate an understanding of constitutional and administrative law, emotional and social intelligence, ethical decision-making, problem-solving, emotional survival and public speaking.
“The APS program is an invaluable first step in leadership training,” DOCJT Commissioner Mike Bosse said. “I am excited to see how you will take this knowledge back to your departments and use it to encourage and strengthen the ranks you lead.”
DOCJT is a state agency located on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. The agency is the first in the nation to be accredited under the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies’ public safety training program designation
Class 108 graduates and their agencies are:
Sgt. Joseph R. Bufford
Hopkinsville Police Department
Sgt. Zachery Eagler
Florence Police Department
Sgt. Vincent A. Folchi
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport Police Department
Sgt. Joshua C. Hendrickson
Henderson County Sheriff’s Office
Sgt. Charles Edward Hoover
Leitchfield Police Department
Sgt. David A. Ingram
Oldham County Police Department
Sgt. Alexander D. Kidd
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife
Sgt. Eric E. Klepper
Somerset Police Department
Sgt. Brian D. Koenes
Ludlow Police Department
Sgt. Josh Livingston
Bowling Green Police Department
Sgt. Angel S. Lopez
Shelbyville Police Department
Sgt. Jacob McBee
Covington Police Department
Sgt. John W. Moore
Louisville Metro Police Department
Sgt. James Norris
Mt. Washington Police Department
Sgt. Bric W. Pace
Brandenburg Police Department
Sgt. John W. Preston II
Owensboro Police Department
Sgt. Tanner J. Reynolds
University of Kentucky Police Department
Sgt. Gregory Ripberger
Kenton County Sheriff’s Office
Lt. Bryan C. Sallee
Anchorage Police Department
Sgt. Jedediah Nathan Swartz
Lancaster Police Department
Sgt. Jeremy B. Tabor
Allen County Sheriff’s Office
Sgt. Ben G. Webb
London Police Department
Sgt. Mason J. Wethington
Glasgow Police Department
Sgt. Rayshon Q. Williams
Scott County Sheriff’s Office
DOCJT provides basic training for city and county police officers, sheriffs’ deputies, university police, airport police throughout the state, only excluding Louisville Metro Police Department, Lexington Police Department, Bowling Green Police Department and the Kentucky State Police, which each have independent academies.
DOCJT is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). CALEA is seeking public input regarding DOCJT’s compliance with CALEA standards, engagement in the service community, delivery of public safety services, and overall candidacy for accredited status. Click here to submit comments.
The Beshear-Coleman administration’s top priority is the safety of all Kentuckians. The Governor's public safety actions are creating safer communities and a better Kentucky.
In April, Team Kentucky broke ground on DOCJT’s new Madisonville campus. When completed, the $50 million project will house two buildings – a 42,800-square-foot classroom and administration building providing learning space, offices and recruit showers and changing areas, as well as a 30,625-square-foot high bay building, which will house an open training area, additional classroom space and gym equipment. The recently passed 2026-2028 state budget also allocates $13.1 million to construct a driving track at the new facility. The General Assembly did not include the full $64.8 million requested by the Governor in his executive budget proposal to construct both a driving track and an indoor firing range at the Madisonville facility.
Until completion of the Madisonville campus, the commonwealth is offering basic training in facilities provided by the Madisonville Police Department. As of January, 37 officers have graduated from the Western Kentucky Law Enforcement Training Facility.
The Governor continues to support law and champion law enforcement. The recently passed 2026-2028 state budget also includes funds to raise the annual law enforcement training stipend to $4,746 for full-time officers by 2028 – another all-time high.
Protecting the commonwealth’s schools are a top priority of Team Kentucky. In August, the Governor announced that 1,315 Kentucky public schools are following statutory safety requirements required by the School Safety and Resiliency Act and that the number of school resource officers protecting schools has increased more than 100% since he took office.
Since Gov. Beshear took office, fewer Kentuckians have returned to prison after their release. For two years in a row, recidivism rates in the commonwealth have decreased, meaning that nearly 70% of those released from state custody have not returned.
The 2024 Crime in Kentucky report, released in June 2025, shows that, from 2023 to 2024, there was an overall decrease of 7.66% in reports of serious crime. The 2025 Crime in Kentucky Report will be released this summer.
For four straight years, overdose deaths have decreased in Kentucky. In 2025, the commonwealth saw 22.9% fewer overdose deaths than the year prior.
In April 2025, Gov. Beshear officially opened the doors to the new law enforcement training facility named in honor of Jody Cash, who lost his life in the line of duty. The facility is designed for officers to learn intensive and specialized training that will support all of Kentucky’s law enforcement agencies.
Since taking office, Gov. Beshear has awarded more than $13 million in grant funding to assist state and local law enforcement agencies with enhancing public and officer safety, curbing the sale of illegal drugs and fighting addiction.
In June 2022, Gov. Beshear announced the Military to Law Enforcement Program (M-2-LE), which allows local law enforcement agencies in Kentucky to hire active service members within all U.S. military branches during their last 180 days of service. Upon being contracted by a law enforcement agency, the military member will continue to receive their pay and benefits from their branch of the armed forces while they undergo law enforcement training at DOCJT.
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