CAMDEN — By BRADLY GILL
Staff writer
The Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy held its graduation for the 2018 Basic Class 18-A Friday April, 13 at the Student Center at SAU Tech.
According to its website, “The Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy (ALETA) was established in 1963 by the Arkansas General Assembly. The objective of ALETA continues to be “for the training and instruction of state, county, municipal, and other law enforcement officers.”
Basic and specialized law enforcement training courses are taught at ALETA locations (East Camden, Springdale and Little Rock) year round. ALETA continues its mission with training courses that are continuously revised and updated to provide students with the most effective and current training possible.”
Camden graduates from the class included Nathan Lane and Jacob VanAssche.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was the guest speaker for the event and he told the story of how in his office hangs a print by Western Artist Edmund F. Ward of a lawman riding into a dusty town front. Hutchinson compared the graduates to that same lawman and said that even though there investigations might start locally, some crimes has global implications.
Hutchinson said that pseudoephedrine is shipped from China to Mexico or Canada where it is made into methamphetamine and shipped to the United States.
He also said the officers will have to deal with civil unrest, and while people have a right to protest, they also have a right to have their individual property safe.
He also made it clear that while enforcing the law, it is important to not disregard civil liberties.
He ended his speech by thanking the men and women about to embark on a career in law enforcement.