Training & Education

21st Century Police Leadership (21 CPL)  is an intensive course designed to foster, train and empower law enforcement leaders.  Selected applicants will be assigned to a cohort that will receive this training during a 3-month period.  The primary courses embedded within this curriculum are Emotional Intelligence, Effective Communications and Cultivating Culture.  The delivery method for this curriculum will involve pre-course self-study work, 3 days in class a month (totaling 9 days of actual class time) followed by assignments and peer learning calls between courses.

The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission has been accepted into the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project, Georgetown University Law Center. This is a national training and support initiative for U.S. law enforcement agencies committed to building a culture of peer intervention that prevents harm.  By demonstrating agency commitment to transformational reform with support from local community groups and elected leaders, The Commission joins a select group of 30 other law enforcement agencies and statewide and regional training academies chosen to participate in the ABLE Project’s national rollout. To date, hundreds of agencies across the country have expressed interest in participating. 

On this page you will find various online training courses and supplemental training resources available for law enforcement, corrections, and other public safety personnel.

The Advanced Medicolegal Forensic Investigation training course is designed for coroners, medical examiners, and medicolegal investigative personnel and is intended to provide continuing education. Topics will vary and will focus on advanced death investigative concepts, new trends, and best practices. This course may be used to maintain Washington State Certification.

The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC) and Washington Animal Control Association (WACA) have partnered together to offer the Animal Control Officer Academy. This 80-hour intensive course is held at the WSCJTC center in Burien, Washington and is specifically designed for Animal Control Officers. Instructors consist of WACA personnel who will cover a variety of topics to satisfy Washington state’s Animal Control Officer requirements.

The Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) is Washington’s mandated training academy for all city and county entry-level peace officers in the state. Through a centralized training model, Washington ensures all officers are equipped with the same base-level understanding of their responsibility to the communities they serve, standards to uphold, and education for effective community-oriented policing . To facilitate this training, WSCJTC hires exceptional training officers from agencies throughout the state and current subject matter experts.

As specified in WAC 139-05-210, a Law Enforcement agency hiring a lateral entry officer is required to complete the equivalency certification process . This includes the successful completion of the Basic Law Enforcement Equivalency Academy [BLEEA]. In compliance with the Law Enforcement Training and Community Safety Act and education about current laws and patrol tactics, the BLEEA provides instruction on the Washington Model of Policing.

This course is directed toward Law Enforcement Officers recently assigned to a specialized SWAT or emergency response team. This course will provide the participants with an understanding of contemporary theories and concepts used during Law Enforcement tactical operations. Participants will gain practical experience operating as a member of a team during practical and scenario-based field exercises designed to develop both individual and team tactics. Participants will gain practical experience planning, developing & executing missions.

Blue Courage is a two-day leadership development workshop designed for all levels of an organization. The workshop will cover a variety of topics such as:

• self-improvement
• stress-management
• Instilling commitment to the purpose and nobility of policing
• developing mental toughness
• igniting a culture of learning, critical thinking and open-mindedness
• improving overall health and well-being

This is a 4 day (32 hour) multidisciplinary online course for WA State law enforcement investigators, prosecutors, and specialized child interviewers. The training is co-sponsored by the WA State CJTC and the Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence. There are 30 hours of classroom and self-study with 2 hours of pre-course work.

Notice: The 2024 CIT 2-HR Online Annual Training Course, to be completed by all law enforcement, will close by 3:00 pm on December 31, 2024. Click here to access the Acadis Portal.

Crisis Intervention Team-Youth Mental Health, is an 8-hour class designed to educated police officers on current crisis trends juveniles are experiencing, the resources King County has available for juveniles and their families, as well as best practices for de-escalation and interactions with juveniles in crisis. This course will use the new youth-focused curriculum and add valuable tools to the CIT trained personnel at your department. CIT was developed by law enforcement for law enforcement.

The course will cover the legal aspects of mental health commitments; liability issues; mental disorders; indicators of mental illness; understanding mental illness; documentation; the interpersonal relations necessary to effectively work with the mentally ill, their families, and the mental health system; and intervention strategies for dealing with both low and high-risk situations.

This 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team Training class is designed to educate law enforcement officers on becoming a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officer. The CIT training is designed to provide tools and resources to criminal justice personnel to respond more effectively to individuals in behavioral health crisis. Officer and first responder safety is priority. This training provides tools to increase safety for both criminal justice personnel and those in crisis.

This 8 hour Corrections Crisis Intervention Training (CCIT) course is designed to inform, educate and/or reiterate the best practices for dealing with detainees that may go through a crisis while in custody. The intent of this course is to understand, recognize, and discuss the techniques and skills needed for dealing with detainees and subjects in mental health crisis. Communication and de-escalation techniques will be presented for positive and favorable outcomes.

This program is funded by the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) 2 Initiative PRI-08: Crisis Intervention Training – First Responders for King County Sheriff, Police, Jail Staff, Fire/EMS, and Other First Responders. In collaboration with the King County Sheriff’s Office and King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division.

This is an 8-hour class to educate fire/EMS personnel on issues related to Crisis Intervention. This course will provide updated materials, skills, and public relations in regards to responding to individuals in behavioral health crisis.

This program is funded by the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) 2 Initiative PRI-08: Crisis Intervention Training – First Responders for King County Sheriff, Police, Jail Staff, Fire/EMS, and Other First Responders. In collaboration with the King County Sheriff’s Office and King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division.

This is an 8-hour class to educate law enforcement officers on issues related to Crisis Intervention. This course will provide updated materials, skills, and public relations in regards to dealing with mentally ill individuals while on duty.

This is an 8-hour class to educate law enforcement officers on Crisis Intervention. This course will provide up to date materials, skills, and public relations information on dealing with mentally ill individuals.

This is an 8-hour class to educate law enforcement officers on issues related to Crisis Intervention. The course is designed to provide training to law enforcement professionals to use appropriate force options when dealing with someone in behavioral health crisis. This class will combine hands-on physical force options training and classroom lecture.

This class is 80 hours in length and expands on the teaching of the Basic course, and provides new material.

This class is 40 hours in length and teaches basic techniques to investigate collisions.

This class is 120 hours in length and will provide students working knowledge of all skills gained in both the Basic and Advanced courses.

The Core Medicolegal Forensic Investigation training course is designed for coroners, medical examiners, and medicolegal investigative personnel and is intended to provide a solid foundation of medicolegal topics. This course will teach and establish standards of practice for personnel in Washington State. During this training, participants will gain an in-depth understanding of topics such as medicolegal death investigation systems, death scene investigation, and identification procedures.

This 400-hour academy is designed to provide training for employees whose primary job functions are to facilitate the custody, safety and security of adults in jails. The COA provides participants with the basic knowledge and skills needed for safe and effective service. Training Coordinators act as coaches and mentors to individuals and the group as a whole. Professionalism and decorum are encouraged for officers to develop pride and ownership of conduct. Students are also organized into teams with Team Leaders serving to enhance group performance.

The Corrections Officers Equivalency process is 80 hours in length, and represents an alternative challenge to the regular Academy program. It is available to previously employed corrections officers upon the request of the respective agency head.

The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC) has launched an on-line duty to intervene training to meet Substitute Senate Bill 5066 (SSB 5066). The training is self-guided and will take approximately three hours to complete in Acadis. The bill does not state a specific training that must be completed. WSCJTC’s duty to intervene training is an additional resource but is not mandated nor required.

In this self-paced course, officers will learn multiple strategies to apply when interacting with individuals in their community with differing backgrounds. This course provides supplemental methods to the LETCSA overarching principles of pace management which involves time, distance, and shielding. The development of this course was a partnership with the following organizations: Kitsap Support, Advocacy, and Counseling; Rebuilding Hope! Sexual Assault Center for Pierce County; Washington State Department of Social and Health Services; and Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition.

This 40-hour course is designed for law enforcement personnel with designated responsibilities and/or supervision of evidence and property.

Class content includes:

•  Washington State laws pertaining to property and evidence
•  Job description and responsibilities
•  Storage and organization methods
•  WASPC accreditation standards
•  WSP crime lab packaging and submission guidelines
•  Audits and inventories
•  Best practices: Policies and Procedures
•  Retention guidelines and disposition projects
•  Evidence in Court Audience:

Class is only open to actively employed criminal justice professionals.

Cancellation Policy: Deadline to cancel is 7 days prior to class. There is a no show or late cancellation fee. Cancellations are done by the agency's training manager in the WSCJTC Acadis Portal.

Our EVOC Instructor Basic course is designed to train officers to instruct students by conducting commentary drives and offering remedial driver training. Officers will be able to teach the laws of physics relating to vehicle motions (which affect vehicle operation) and identify common driving errors, improper attitudes, and unsafe driving techniques. Subject matter experts present our course with interactive exercises and opportunities to practice skills and receive constructive feedback.

This 40 hour course presents the FTO model (sometimes called the San Jose Model program) to field trainers engaged in training those who have recently completed the BLEA, Corrections or Equivalency academies. Classroom topics will include:

The job of a First Level Supervisor is perhaps the most challenging position in the organization and clearly critical to its success. Based upon a comprehensive Job Task Analysis conducted jointly with its stakeholders, the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) has re-designed the First Level Supervision Training program.

The 40-hour Level I Handgun Instructor Course is directed toward law enforcement personnel who have a desire to become firearms instructors. It is intended to develop the necessary instructor competencies required to provide safe and effective firearms training. During this course participants will focus exclusively and intensely on the handgun while they work to develop instructor competencies.

The CJTC Handgun Red Dot Sight Instructor is a 24 hour course. The course is designed to bring current firearms instructors up to date on the fundamentals of teaching and integrating handgun Red Dot Sights (RDS) into their training curriculum or agency program. We strongly recommend this course if you or your agency is in the process of approving the use of, or converting as an agency to handgun RDS.

The substance use disorder program is excited to announce a new virtual training (in partnership with PEER WA), Course #8028 - How Co-Response with SUD Peers is changing the way police respond to challenging crisis calls.

This 2-hour presentation will feature Peer WA and a panel of subject matter experts involved in co-response teams throughout Washington State. They will share insights on how co-response models are transforming police responses to crisis situations involving substance use disorders.

Note:
This course is currently available to law enforcement and corrections personnel. If space permits, behavioral health specialists and others may be able to enroll closer to the course date.

The WSCJTC Instructor Certification Program is a WSCJTC initiative to give individuals the knowledge, skills, and experience to instruct Criminal Justice courses effectively and competently.

This 40 hour class teaches the basic skills necessary to prepare and present knowledge and psychomotor based training in a classroom environment. This class is best suited for students who have less than two years in course delivery and no formal training in instructional techniques, but is open to those of all skill levels. A high level of student participation is required.

The United States is home to over 500 different federally recognized tribes, each of them with unique culture, history, and contemporary issues. Upon completion of this course students will be able to illustrate and integrate principles of cultural humility, including but not limited to, knowledge of cultural responsiveness and the role of law enforcement in their relationships with Indigenous people.

In order to facilitate successful interactions with Black Americans in their community, students will learn about the generational trauma that impacts the experience of Black Americans in U.S. society. Fundamental concepts and principles of race and policing are taught to better understand perceptions, challenges, and relationships between law enforcement and Black Americans through lecture, self-reflection, and videos.

Per WAC 139-10-240, the Juvenile Corrections Officers Academy (JCOA) is an 80 hour academy designed to train corrections personnel responsible for the care, custody, and safety of juvenile offenders in county facilities.

Per WAC 139-10-237, the Juvenile Services Academy is a 40-hour course designed to train employees whose primary job function is to assess, case plan, and/or manage, counsel, and/or monitor juvenile offenders.

The Holocaust for Humanity Center engages with law enforcement to learn about the role of police in Nazi Germany and to reflect on their role in a democratic society today. Officers will learn to build more positive relationships with specific communities within areas they serve by understanding how biases, stereotypes, and a lack of understanding about varying cultural norms negatively impacts police interactions with the public.

This 40 hour course will cover a variety of topics relating to law enforcement records handling. Some of the topics include:

• Introduction to the Criminal Justice system
• State & Federal criminal history guidelines
• Records dissemination
• Media relations and resources
• Firearms laws
• Property and evidence
• Licensing

This is the follow up certification for 6240 Control/Defensive Tactics (C/DT) and Use of Force (UOF) for Law Enforcement Officers. WSCJTC recognizes no students are proficient in all skills and knowledge in just one week of training. To ensure skills and knowledge are proficient the 6241-LEAD Instructor Course is Mandatory if being a lead or regional instructor is your goal. This 40-hour course includes a review for all the skill instruction, use of force, acute behavioral disorders and report writing.

The Federal Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act (LEOSA - 18USC926C) authorizes retired and separated law enforcement officers nationwide to carry concealed weapons throughout the country.

Please visit our LEOSA certification page to learn more. Applicants must meet the standards established by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy for Covert Carry/Off Duty Proficiency.

This training equips participants with current and accurate information surrounding laws, the historical context around the relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and law enforcement, terminology, and more so that officers feel confident in their knowledge regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Other areas covered in this training will be gender identity, gender expression, and pronoun usage so that officers may effectively and respectfully communicate with LGBTQ+ individuals. After completing this training, officers will receive 2.5 hours of LETCSA credits.

Effective January 1, 2006, every peace officer certified under RCW 43-101-095 is required to complete a minimum of 24-hours of in-service training annually. 

Change to Middle Management Career Level Certification Training Requirements – Effective January 1, 2023, the mandated course required to obtain Middle Management Career Level Certification will become the 21^st Century Police Leadership (21CPL) course. Those requiring Middle Management Certification will need to complete this three-week course, serve 12 months in their promoted rank then submit their application for certification. The 40-hour Middle Management course will no longer be offered.

The MPCA is 80 hours in length and is designed to provide training for adult probation officers. The course will include, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Professionalism and ethics
• The criminal justice system
• Community and personal safety
• Risk assessment tools
• Specialty courts
• Motivational interviewing and models for change