Peace Officer Law Enforcement Academy to be held in Houston
Photo courtesy of Texas County Sheriff’s Department
Local officers participating in the instructor development course to attain POST law enforcement instructor certification are, from left: Sgt. Reuben Salazar, TCSO; Texas County Sheriff Scott Lindsey, Deputy Paul Nawrath, TCSO, Lt. Matt Woodmansee, HPD, Sgt. Brian Allgire, LPD, Cpl. Andy Edwards, TCSO, Cpl. Kenny Santee, LPD, Deputy Dave Kidwell, TCSO, Cpl. Greg Ryan, TCSO, and Chief Pat Burton, LPD. Not pictured were Deputy Mike Huffman, TCSO, and Deputy Ty Albrecht, TCSO.
By Shari Harris, Publisher
Texas County Sheriff Scott Lindsey has announced that the Missouri Sheriff’s Association will hold a 700-hour Basic Peace Officer Law Enforcement Academy in Houston, Mo., beginning in January of 2026. The part-time academy will hold classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Saturdays and some Sundays.
This will be the first time a Law Enforcement Academy has been held in Texas County. Chief Deputy Sheriff Rowdy Douglas will be the Site Coordinator, and instructors will include members of the Texas County Sheriff’s Department and city police departments in the area. An Instructor Development Course was just completed with several local law enforcement officers becoming certified instructors and eligible to teach at the academy.
Sheriff Lindsey pointed to the need for more peace officers in the county, at the city and county level. He hopes that the local classes and the fact that they will be part-time will draw interested individuals who were not able to leave the area for several weeks to attend the larger academies. Those attending the academy in Houston would be able to continue working and live at home while completing their training. Graduates will take a POST test at the conclusion of the courses and upon passing, will become certified Peace Officers with a Class A license. Sheriff Lindsey expressed his hope that there is enough interest in the program during this first year to repeat it.
Photo by Shari Harris
From left, Sheriff Scott Lindsey, Chief Deputy Rowdy Douglas and Houston Police Chief Brad Evans will all be instructors in the academy.
Local law enforcement agencies will benefit from the program because it will provide them with a larger hiring pool. Sheriff Lindsey said jailers can also complete the program and may choose to remain jailers upon completion. Certification would allow for grant funding to increase jailers’ pay, and it would also free up road deputies when situations arise that require a deputy at the jail.
Courses will begin on January 8, 2026, and will run through November/December 2026. Tuition for the program will be $5,500, and scholarship applications are available for the Missouri Blue Scholarship, which would cover the full tuition if received. A processing fee of $300 and a background check fee of $44.75 will also be charged.
Classes will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 – 10 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and some Sundays. Registration is open now, with a deadline of December 8, 2025. An inaugural class of eight to ten students is desired for the program.
The Missouri Sheriff’s Association coordinates the program, and more information is available by emailing Gina Kauffman at gina@mosheriffs.com. The application for the program may be downloaded from https://mosheriffs.com/academy/.
