By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Dallas Creager officially joined the Decatur Police Department Friday night when he graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield.
Creager was among 154 recruits in the academy’s 235th basic training session, which began January 6.
“Officer Creager displayed his leadership abilities by serving as a squad leader,” the Decatur department noted in a statement.
Creager was one of only six trainees named a squad leader.
On Monday, the newest officer with the Decatur PD begins his field training on a one-year probationary period.
He brings the department up to full force: 20 officers, including Chief Kevin Gerber and Assistant Chief Jeff Brite.
Creager, 27, is a native of Bluffton and graduate of Southern Wells High School. Before coming to the Decatur department he had been a member of the Geneva Police Department.
The academy says the basic training course for new police officers consists of over 600 hours of training. Major areas of instruction include criminal and traffic law, firearms, emergency vehicle operations, physical tactics, EMS awareness and human behavior.
Officers are also required to study other police related subjects such as accident investigation, criminal investigation, domestic violence and sexual assault, water rescue training, Standardized Field Sobriety Test, crime prevention and drug and narcotics.
The first basic law enforcement training course was conducted in the summer of 1969 at Indiana Central College, now the University of Indianapolis. In December of 1969, the academy moved to the Indiana University campus at Bloomington, and remained there until January 1, 1975.
On January 6, 1975 training began in the new facility at Plainfield.
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