Pre-Employment Police Basic Course
All persons seeking permanent appointment as a municipal police officer must complete an approved Basic Course for Police Officers as a condition of appointment. The Pre-Employment Police Basic Training Course is an alternative to the conventional manner of conducting the Basic Course for Police Officers, by means of which basic police training is completed in two distinct components. The first component, pre-employment training, includes most of the instructional material in the Basic Course for Police Officers, and may be completed by civilian students as well as appointed police officers.
After appointment, a police officer who has successfully completed the Pre-Employment Police Basic Training Course must complete the second component, which includes at a minimum law enforcement skills and supervised field training. The second component may only be completed by sworn police officers.
Pre-employment training is achieved through a collaboration between a municipality and an accredited college, junior college, or two-year college having an active criminal justice, public safety program, or other similar or equivalent program registered and approved by the Department of Education. It provides interested persons with the opportunity to begin preparation for a career as a police officer prior to being hired by a law enforcement agency. As a further benefit, the program provides law enforcement agencies and municipalities with a diverse pool of trained police officer candidates.
For more information, please refer to the Pre-Employment Police Basic Training Administrator's Guide. The guide and other relevant forms are available on-line in the Publications and Forms section. We have also prepared a list of Frequently Asked Questions and answers that we hope you will find helpful. Law enforcement agencies and schools that have additional questions should contact us at 518-457-2667, or by e-mail. All student inquiries must be directed to the school of their choice that is offering the program.
Approved schools list
The following schools have been approved to offer the Pre-Employment Police Basic Training Course. Interested students should contact the school of their choice for more information.
- Alfred State Police Academy
- Central New York Police Academy
- Columbia-Greene Community College Police Basic Training Program
- Corning Community College
- David Sullivan Law Enforcement Academy
- Erie County Central Police Services Public Safety Training Academy
- Herkimer County Community College Pre-Employment Police Basic Training Program
- Mohawk Valley Community College
- Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy
- Otsego County Law Enforcement Academy
- Rockland County Police and Public Safety Academy
- Rural Police Training Institute
- SUNY Morrisville Pre-Employment Basic Training Academy
- SUNY Potsdam Law Enforcement Training Institute
- Ulster County Law Enforcement Training Group