On Tuesday, March 30, Deputies Jason Earls and Hector Eagan graduated from BLEA Class #813. The two adapted to, persevered, and overcame a number of unique Coronavirus pandemic challenges during their academy experience.

Jason served as the Class President and Hector as the Vice President. The class president and vice president are elected for their prior accomplishments, demonstrated leadership abilities, and elevated communication skills. In their roles they acted as links in the class chain of command, organized details assigned to the class, assisted in coordinating class activities, and contributed to class discipline. Moreover, Hector and Jason were still required to maintain the academic and skill requirements necessary to graduate from BLEA.

The Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) is Washington’s mandated training academy for all city and county entry-level peace officers in the state. Through a centralized training model, all officers are equipped with the same base-level understanding of their responsibility to the communities they serve, standards to uphold, and education for effective community-oriented policing. With a focus on a guardian model of policing, students attend a wide array of courses throughout their 720-hour academy experience. Courses of instruction include extensive training in criminal law, patrol tactics, crisis intervention and communications, criminal investigations, ethics, criminal procedures, defensive tactics, and firearms.

Hector and Jason will now continue their field training as they work under the direct supervision of experienced field training officers who will evaluate their performance daily. Once the training officers are satisfied they have consistently demonstrated their competence for solo patrol, Hector will be assigned to patrol area 1 (Sequim) and Jason to patrol areas 3 and 4 (West End communities).