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Police officers Callie Tilson of Derby and Braxton A. Hill of Andover meet with students at Derby High School, where Tilson is a resource officer.

Police officers Callie Tilson of Derby and Braxton A. Hill of Andover meet with students at Derby High School, where Tilson is a resource officer.

Making Us Safer

KU police training center teaches the value of good communication

Two young police officers learned one important lesson at KU’s Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Hutchinson: Communication is everything.

Callie Tilson, 25, a resource officer for the 2,000 students at Derby High School, has about 150 interactions a week with students, teachers, and administrators: directing traffic, overseeing drug and alcohol awareness programs, resolving conflicts.

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Officer Braxton A. Hill was one of 36 members of the March 26, 2010, graduating class at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center. The center, a division of KU Continuing Education, offers five to six sessions a year. Officer Callie Tilson of Derby completed her basic training in December 2007.

Braxton A. Hill, 27, drives a patrol car in Andover, a Butler County town of about 10,500. His chief task is crime control, but about one-quarter of his citizen encounters are simply answering questions and providing help.

Their basic training emphasized “the importance of interaction within our diverse communities and building that relationship,” Hill says. “Without a strong relationship, a communication barrier prevents us from solving problems.”

Tilson says scenarios the trainers provided set the standard on how to communicate. “There are times someone just needs us to listen, and then there are times when it is required that we step in and provide help and guidance.”

KU's Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center

At a former naval air station south of Hutchinson and west of Yoder in Reno County, comprising dormitories, dining facility, classrooms, offices, shooting training building, and emergency vehicle driver training course.

  • Basic training: 560 hours over 14 weeks in residence annually for about 400 novice municipal, county, and state law enforcement officers
  • Continuing education: 40 hours of certification training annually for about 4,400 officers in topics such as Internet crime, domestic violence, sexual assault, drug abuse, and hostage negotiation
  • Funding: Entirely by docket fees in district and municipal courts


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