BOULDER — New law enforcement officers graduated from the Montana Law Enforcement Academy at the end of April. While some have headed back to their home agencies, new Montana Highway Patrol troopers are now in Boulder completing their next phase of training.
After basic training at MLEA, new troopers—called cadets while they go through training—complete the MHP Advanced Academy. There are 17 cadets currently going through the about 12-week academy, one of them is Hunter Paulson.
(WATCH: Montana Highway Patrol Advanced Academy gets new troopers ready for the road)
“I was a logistics officer in the Army prior to this, so I was looking for a job that provided camaraderie and a sense of purpose, getting out of the military,” Paulson said. “I was looking at Highway Patrol—they provided all of that.”
Paulson and his fellow cadets learned the basics of law enforcement at MLEA, and now they’re getting trained in the specific skills they will need as troopers, like DUI and crash investigations, which require special attention to detail.
“Whether it’s something someone says or the way a particular piece of road debris is laying on a crash scene, that really ties the whole picture together and helps us complete our investigation,” MHP Academy Sgt. Nick Wade said. “That attention to detail starts here. This is where we hone our cadets to remind them that those things matter.”
Officer safety is a major focus of the advanced academy.
“We’re out on the road by ourselves, we’ve got to take care of ourselves because, oftentimes, backup is a long ways away,” MHP Col. Kurt Sager said.
Cadets also sharpen their firearms and driving skills, learn how to secure crash scenes on the highway, practice conducting high-risk traffic stops and more.
The training is not just mentally challenging, it’s also physically demanding.
“We’ll wake up around 4:30 am, PT is at 5:15 am, so we’ll do that from 5:15-6:15 am, we’ll do inspections from 7-7:20 am,” Paulson said. “Then from 8 am-5 pm, we’ll do class, whether that’s in the classroom or hands-on training out in the field.”
Academy instructors are uniformed MHP troopers with real experience on the roads of Montana.
“I really take pride in the responsibility that comes along with it,” Wade said of his role in training cadets. “It’s really motivating to see how passionate these young cadets are, how excited they are to get on the road.”
The goal of the advanced academy is to prepare cadets for what they will encounter on patrol across the Treasure State.
“They leave the academy, and they are very well trained,” Sager said. “The best trained in the state.”
