CPSL in the News

YODER, Kan. — U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kan.) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Steven Dettelbach and the Honorable Kate E. Brubacher, U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas were at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center on Monday, March 13, to announce the launch of a new training program and center.

"Ultimately, it will support a person from the time they enter into a leadership position, until the time they get to a senior leadership position as chief or sheriff," said KLETC Executive Director Darin Beck. It will support each of those different levels with a certificate program supporting each different level."

The Center for Public Safety Leadership (CPSL) brings the resources of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC) and the University of Kansas together to develop law enforcement training, education, and assessments. 

Under a $2 million federal grant, the newly created CPSL will establish the infrastructure necessary to eventually operate in a in a self-supporting business environment. The program's director, Troy Livingston, is uniquely qualified to create the new programming.

"I retired from the Wichita Police Department just a few years ago as a deputy chief," Livingston said. "I went back recently and I was the interim chief there for three months. I went up through the ranks. What makes this special for me is, actually, before I went to Wichita, I was an officer in Liberal, Kansas and actually went through the Law Enforcement Training Center. I'm very familiar with small and mid-sized agencies and the struggles they have. Once I retired from Wichita PD, I came here to be an instructor for three years before I went back to be the interim chief."

The CPSL is a unit of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center located near Hutchinson, with regional sites in Dodge City and Hays. Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran said the genesis for the money that resulted in the CPSL came from discussions with his chief colleague across the aisle.

"I serve as the vice chairman, the lead Republican on the appropriations committee that funds the Department of Justice," Moran said. "I serve in that capacity. I've been chairman in the days of Republican majorities and when we're in the minority, I'm the lead Republican and vice versa with my Democratic colleague. When there was a lot of conversation across the country about defunding the police, we reached the conclusion that we ought to be funding the police more and help them have better training, better able to hire officers with expertise. Officers that were able to protect themselves and the citizens and this is an example of dollars that we put into a grant program at the Department of Justice that helps, in this case, train, particularly rural law enforcement officers and to try to give them, certainly, the normal law enforcement training that they need to do their jobs, but also, here at KLETC, to provide the leadership aspect of becoming one of the most important people in many communities across Kansas."

KLETC’s Hutchinson location consists of 173 acres with fifteen buildings including two multi-story residential student dormitories. 

The current campus master plan approved by the Kansas Board of Regents calls for a $230 million expansion over the next eight years.