Recognizing an Essential Public Safety Profession
Every year during National Correctional Officers’ Week, communities across the country recognize the corrections professionals who work behind the scenes to help maintain safety, stability, and accountability within the criminal justice system. The observance honors the men and women who serve in correctional facilities while reinforcing the important role corrections play in public safety and community well-being.
For the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC), the week also serves as an opportunity to recognize the professionalism, integrity, and resilience required of today’s corrections officers — and the responsibility WSCJTC carries in preparing them for the realities of the profession.
“I feel like it's a chance to recognize a profession that often goes unseen, but it's super critical to public safety,” said Dawn Brathovde, WSCJTC Corrections TAC Officer and instructor. “And as an instructor, it directly reminds me that what we're teaching in class is going to affect corrections officers going into the job.”
Why Correctional Officers Matter
Corrections officers serve in highly dynamic environments where communication, professionalism, and sound judgment are essential. While the public often associates the profession solely with supervision in correctional facilities, the day-to-day responsibilities are significantly broader and more complex.
Brathovde explained that correctional officers regularly manage conflict, de-escalate tense situations, and operate under constant pressure while maintaining professionalism and accountability.
“Corrections officers do more than just supervise inmates. They manage conflict, they de-escalate situations, and they manage highly dynamic environments,” Brathovde said. “The work under pressure can be a lot. And it takes communication and adaptability in order to be successful in this job.”
That work matters not only to law enforcement agencies, but also to the public. Safe and professional correctional environments contribute directly to safer communities, improved rehabilitation efforts, and stronger public trust in the justice system. The professionalism demonstrated inside correctional facilities can influence outcomes both inside institutions and after individuals return to their communities.
How WSCJTC Prepares Corrections Recruits
At WSCJTC, corrections training is designed to prepare recruits for those realities through a combination of classroom learning and scenario-based instruction grounded in real-world applications. The academy emphasizes communication, adaptability, accountability, and integrity — values that align closely with WSCJTC’s broader mission of delivering legally sound, scientifically grounded, and community-centered training.
“The academy really does a great job blending classroom instruction with scenario-based instruction that mimics real-world scenarios,” Brathovde said. “It gives recruits an opportunity to actually de-escalate situations, practice their communication, and really go hands on with what they're going to be doing in the job.”
The Corrections Officers Academy also reinforces the qualities recruits need most to succeed in the profession: communication, adaptability, composure under pressure, professionalism, and the treatment of all individuals fairly and respectfully.
Building Public Trust Through Professionalism
Brathovde said those values are central to the work happening at WSCJTC every day.
“It makes me proud to know that the academy is focusing on realistic training that really applies to what officers are going to see when they get into the job,” she said. “Really focusing on the officers maintaining their professionalism, being accountable and really acting with integrity and transferring that training into the real world, I think it's really important.”
National Correctional Officers’ Week serves as a reminder that corrections professionals are an essential part of Washington’s broader public safety system. Their work requires skill, compassion, professionalism, and resilience — often without public recognition.
WSCJTC remains committed to preparing corrections professionals through nationally accredited, community-centered training that strengthens public trust and supports safer communities across Washington state.