FORT MYERS, Fla. — On Wednesday morning, cadets marched in line bright and early for their second day of class in the new criminal justice academy at the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
30 cadets are training to be correction officers, and another 58 are training to be law enforcement officers.
LCSO says the new academy will help serve the growing population and get more boots on the ground.
Law enforcement cadet Maria Bermingham says, "My overall goal is to learn how to serve and protect my community. This is my home. I was born here fourth generation, and so I want to better understand how things work behind the scenes."
Normally, cadets go to class at The Southwest Florida Criminal Justice Service Academy, which attracts students from five different counties.
But Sheriff Carmine Marceno says as Lee County grows, they need more deputies — and fast.
"We need more boots on the street. More law enforcement. 80,000 people moved here last year. That's 80,000 more people calling the the sheriff's office. More calls for service than ever," he says.
Their own academy lets them do just that and more. They renovated a building for two classrooms and a defensive training room to practice possible scenarios and and learn other skills like weapons training.
LCSO follows FDLE's curriculum and customizes training specific to Lee County.
Sheriff Marceno says,"We can personalize that training. It's more hands on, and we can give them the exact training we would give them later on in field training."
The training comes at no cost to cadets. LCSO says their budget covers the cost to build the academy and cadet training.
For Cadet Bermingham learning to serve her community is a honor.
"They teach us to treat people like people, and I really really love that because I didn't expect that," Bermingham says.
Lee County joins six other counties in Florida that already provide in house training.
