ATCOG worked with TCOLE to put ‘safeguards’ in place
Regional Government
The Ark-Tex Council of Governments (ATCOG) Regional Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (RCJAC) has revised the procedure by which they accept trainees into their regional law enforcement training program, now requiring those trainees to be employed by a local police program, according to a Sept. 26 measure.
The program, hosted out of Kilgore College, previously allowed police departments and other law enforcement agencies to send those they might wish to employ in the future to be trained on a grant through the RCJAC, according to ATCOG documentation.
According ATCOG Director Chris Brown, these changes were due to conversations between the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) and ATCOG to put safeguards in place so that funds are properly used in the future.
“We [TCOLE and ATCOG] thought it best to go ahead and clarify some of these things,” Brown told the News-Telegram.
According to Brown, the conversations and change in policy arose due to the actions of Sulphur Springs Public Safety Director James “Jay” Sanders.
TCOLE launched an investigation into Sanders in March 2019 after Sanders allegedly “provid[ed] false information on documentation that would have the state pay for a couple of folks to go through a law enforcement academy,” according to TCOLE spokesperson Gretchen Grigsby. This law enforcement academy, Brown confirmed, is the same overseen by ATCOG.
Sanders underwent a permanent voluntary surrender of his peace officer license effective May 2, Grigsby said. Sanders resigned his post from the city May 3, according to his resignation letter, and the investigation was closed, Grigsby said.
New Sulphur Springs Police Chief Jason RIcketson took Sanders’ surrendered seat on the ATCOG RCJAC advisory committee on May 30.
According to Brown, any monies left outstanding from the Sanders case has been repaid.
Brown says ATCOG is looking forward to working with all law enforcement agencies in the region to help increase training at a local level.