The Delaware Area Career Center celebrated its 44th Basic Peace Officer Academy graduation Wednesday night, the first since the DACC and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office teamed up to bring a new commander to the program.
The graduation ceremony was at the DACC’s South Campus and was the first graduating class of adult law enforcement students at the DACC taught by Commander David Wiseman, the former police chief of London, Ohio, since he was brought on in summer of 2015.
Wiseman told the crowd at the event that of the 20 cadets that started the course seven months ago, all 20 would be graduating. Wiseman said that in his decades of teaching law enforcement, he has never seen an entire class graduate without anyone failing or dropping out.
Wiseman said he had grown close to the group of 20 cadets and said he was proud that they had all completed the course and proud of the way they always had each other’s backs.
According to Delaware County Sheriff Russell Martin, DACC Superintendent Mary Beth Freeman contacted the sheriff’s office when the previous commander of the police academy, Ron Poulton, announced he would be retiring. Poulton was the former police chief of the city of Delaware and had worked at the career center as an instructor for decades.
Martin and Freeman then agreed the Sheriff’s Office would split the costs of hiring Wiseman and would thus allow Wiseman to work for both organizations as an instructor. Wiseman had previously worked as an adjunct instructor for the career center for a number of year before taking the full-time position.
“[The course] went very well,” Wiseman said. “I have to thank the support from the career center and the Sheriff’s Office. Poulton left the course in a good direction and I’m happy with where the academy is heading.”
Martin said the transition from Poulton to Wiseman was very smooth.
“We are extremely grateful for the superintendent’s vision to find someone of real quality to take over,” Martin said. “[Wiseman] was the right guy at the right time and has raised the bar [for the program.]”
