Friday afternoon, Jan. 6, was the graduation of the 136th Basic Police Officer School, held at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy in Columbus. Thirty-seven new law enforcement officers from around the state made up this class, including new Urbana Police Officer Luke Hiltibran – who was hired in August of 2016 and has been attending the 21-week academy since Aug. 15.
“We are very proud of Luke and his accomplishment in attaining state certification and joining our agency,” Urbana Police Chief Matt Lingrell said on Monday.
During Hiltibran’s academy, he was trained in over 150 related topics, including:
· Community Relations
· Constitutional law and arrest, search and seizure
· Criminal laws and criminal investigation techniques
· Emergency vehicle operations
· First Aid and CPR
· Physical fitness
· Speed measuring devices
· Standardized field sobriety testing
· Traffic laws and traffic crash investigation
· Weapons qualifications and self-defense tactics
On the current Urbana Police Division roster, only Chief Lingrell has attended the OSHP Academy for his Basic Certification, which he received in 1984. “Often times, new officers come to us already certified from various Ohio police academies, but whenever we have the opportunity to in the future, we will be using the OSHP Academy for training our new officers, as it offers the absolute finest training an agency can ask for,” Lingrell explained.
In addition to Hiltibran’s family, Chief Lingrell, Lieutenant Seth King and Sergeant Josh Jacobs all witnessed the graduation ceremony which had over 250 agency representatives, academy staff and family in attendance.
Hiltibran, an Urbana native and a 2007 graduate of Urbana High School, began his 11-week field training with the police division on Monday. Once he completes that training, he will be given a regular patrol shift assignment.
“The police division is still drastically short on the manpower level it needs and thus we are very happy to have Luke join us in serving and protecting the Urbana community,” Lingrell said.
