CONWAY -- Recruits at the Conway Police Department Training Academy have only two things to do to pass the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course: Knock over just two cones while maneuvering a narrow maze of an imaginary streetscape -- mostly in reverse without a back-up camera -- and do it in under 30 seconds.
More than a dozen would-be law enforcement officers from the Conway Police Department and the Faulkner County sheriff's office, as well as the Benton and Bryant police departments and the Saline County sheriff's office, on Friday finished their fifth week of a 14-week, 560-hour intensive training program.
"One of the benefits of training our own officers is that we train them for things specifically related to the Conway community versus an overall generalization of training that they receive at the state level," Conway Police Chief William Tapley said. "We feel that they are better trained when they come out of our academy to handle situations tailored to our city."
The Conway Police Department for several years was sending its recruits to the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in Camden before deciding in 2016 to start, under the state's supervision, the Central Arkansas Police Academy, where Conway trained its cadets and those of other departments.
The state eventually decided that the academy needed its own permanent location, so the operations moved to Camp Robinson in North Little Rock.
Conway put its academy on hold for a while but revived it recently. Two training sessions have been held this year.
DRIVING COURSE
On Wednesday, two driving courses were set up at the Conway Regional Airport at Cantrell Field. Orange plastic cones and tall, flexible key cones -- capable of withstanding 10 vehicular hits at 55 mph before falling -- indicated corners and dead ends of simulated city streets.
Some cadets were in tall, bulky SUVs while others were in sporty Dodge Chargers.
Four instructors -- Sgt. Matthew Edgmon, officer Rick Shumate, officer Kelton Smith and officer Matthew Boyd -- stood in the middle of the course, with clipboards, screaming out corrections and tips to the rookie drivers.
As the screeching of tires echoed on the open airfield, Smith yelled, "Back it up," to the driver.
The back-up cameras in the vehicles were covered to keep cadets from relying on them. The majority of the course involved turning sharp corners and reversing into tight spots.
The cadets groaned or slapped the steering wheel when they heard the sound of a cone being knocked over or when they backed into one of the tall key cones.
Some cadets ran over whole rows of cones after taking a corner too wide or too narrow, while others dragged cones under their vehicles throughout the rest of the course.
The complexity of the course, with the required speed and with instructors yelling to drivers throughout their tests, was intended to add stress, Edgmon said.
"We want to expose them to the stress to see how they react," he said. "This is as close as we can get to recreating how it will be on the streets."
Jennifer Mitchell, a Bryant recruit, raced through the course, her tires screeching.
When she reached the end, she looked at Edgmon questioningly.
No fallen cones, but a time of 31 seconds. One second over.
She shook her head, grimacing.
"You're close," Edgmon said.
Andrew Taylor, a Conway native, has wanted to be a police officer since he had a Little Rock officer as a college professor who spoke often about experiences on the streets.
When Taylor went on a ride-along with a Conway Police Department officer at 19, he was hooked.
"I turned 21 in May, and I took the test in August," he said. "It's a long process to get here."
SEVEN MONTHS
The road to becoming a law enforcement officer for the Conway department begins with an entry-level test, according to Police Department spokeswoman Lacey Kanipe.
The candidates must be at least 21 and no older than 46 on the date of hire. They must pass a physical agility test and a comprehensive background check and take a lie detector test.
"It takes about seven months to become a police officer," Kanipe said. "There's three months of academy training, three months of field training and a two-week 'check-ride' that the officers go through, which basically determines whether they're ready to be released on their own."
The academy begins with a lot of classroom time covering topics such as Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, criminal and traffic laws, and mental health awareness.
Outside the classroom, the recruits learn standardized field sobriety testing, the use of stun guns and radar, and how to use a spike strip to stop vehicles.
"Part of the reason that we wanted to create our own academy is because they were only hosted during certain periods of time, and we wanted them to fit into our schedule versus waiting for the state," Kanipe said. "Our academy is also hosted by active officers. They aren't full-time trainers. This gives the recruits a unique training experience because they're learning under someone who still works full-time as a police officer."
The academies are scheduled as the need arises, Kanipe said.
Hosting the academy is fairly inexpensive, with the costs mostly coming from overtime for the officers.
"We float our own ammo bill when we host an academy versus sending them to a state academy where they would pay for it," Kanipe said. "For this specific course, you must figure in the costs for vehicle maintenance. Basically, the wear and tear on our vehicles."
The other police agencies do not pay fees to attend the Conway academy.
"If they have recruits or officers that need to attend the academy or take a specific course, they can put them in ours if it best fits their schedule," Kanipe said.
Benton Police Department spokeswoman Krista Petty said the agency is grateful for Conway's generosity.
"There are times we may hire a new officer and have to wait to send them to the next round of academy at one of the other available locations, so having another option -- and it being fairly close by -- is a true blessing," Petty said. "It also speaks to the true nature of law enforcement in Arkansas. This is not a competition. We all want success for everyone involved."