About FPSI

June 21, 1967, Governor Claude Kirk signed into law the Police Standards Act. That Act required training be provided according to a standardized program for all law enforcement officers in Florida. It also set certain standards for employment as a law enforcement officer. Implementation of the Act was facilitated using the vocational-technical schools and community colleges already in place, and by incorporating the individual law enforcement agencies already engaged in the delivery of training for law enforcement officers throughout the State.

Training Programs Lead to Expansion

In this area of the state, the Lewis M. Lively Area Vocational-Technical Center in Tallahassee was one of the original locations certified to offer training to law enforcement agencies in a six-county region of the state. A Law Enforcement Department of one full-time person was established and the first 200-hour basic recruit class started on October 1, 1968 in an existing classroom at the Vo-Tech Center. To accommodate the expansion of training programs in the early 1970s, the Vo-Tech first built a portable classroom building and later moved to Park 20 West Office Plaza in Tallahassee where it had three classrooms.

Meanwhile, the Florida Police Academy Act of 1969 had been passed, which called for the establishment of a state law enforcement training academy and created a funding mechanism to realize that goal. Every person convicted of violating a law in Florida, except parking offenses, was assessed one dollar that was credited to the Act's account. All monies collected were for the sole purpose of providing training or for the construction of academy facilities.

To help realize that goal, Gadsden County donated 375 acres of land to the State of Florida to be used as the site for the state police academy. The Act was later repealed in 1974 due to difficulties in implementing the provisions of the law as written but at the time of its repeal, the Act had an accumulated balance of $3,032,852.

In 1976, Lively Vo-Tech was projecting construction of a law enforcement training facility on its campus consisting of four classrooms, a darkroom, laboratories, and office space. Instead, with the assistance of the Governor's Office, the Leon County School Board, the Gadsden County Commission, Senator Pat Thomas of Quincy, and others, the property in Gadsden County was leased to the Leon County School Board for 99 years to be used for regional training.

Once plans for construction were approved, work on the original Administration Building of the Law Enforcement Training and Education Center began March 31, 1976. In the subsequent years, the Academy added firearms ranges, driving ranges, an on-site cafeteria, a 64-bed housing facility, a man-made lake, and other improvements. In honor of the role played by Senator Pat Thomas the Lively Law Enforcement Academy was renamed the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy (PTLEA) in 1996. The name was in recognition of the support shown by Florida Senator Thomas to criminal justice in Florida and for the personal attention he had shown to the Academy in his home county. Beginning with his leadership in acquiring the current site for the Academy in 1970 and ending with his death on June 21, 2000, he was tireless in advocating for professionalism in criminal justice.

TCC's Acquisition and Growth of the Academy

July 1, 1999 the Florida Legislature transferred the ownership of the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy from Lively Vo-Tech to the Tallahassee Community College (TCC). Moving the Academy from the K12 system within the Department of Education to the college system for adults created a new and better alignment of the mission of the Academy with the job related training it provided.

In 2002, then-Governor Jeb Bush launched an effort focused on improving three areas of state law enforcement functions: telecommunications operations, use of state aircraft, and state law enforcement training.  TCC submitted a white paper describing the potential benefits and cost savings that could be realized if state law enforcement training were to be consolidated at the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy site. The proposal provided for complete control of the training by each agency but put the Academy in the role of achieving efficiencies by collocating resources used for training.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Academy was already located at PTLEA. In 2003, the construction of a new Administration Building and Classroom Building was completed. This set the stage for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Academy, Department of Transportation Motor Carrier Compliance Training Section, Department of Environmental Protection Academy, Florida Highway Patrol Academy, Department of Financial Services Training Section, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Training Section, Department of Juvenile Justice Training Section, as well as the Leon County Sheriff's Office and Tallahassee Police Department Training sections to move into a single building at PTLEA.

Activities continued to grow at PTLEA. This caused the expansion of the Dining Facility to accommodate 600 students and the construction of a new housing facility with 200 individual sleeping rooms. This growth also brought the additions of an explosives range, an environmental crime training complex and other infrastructure elements to support agency training needs.

Additional program offerings, on par with national effort, included training for law enforcement intelligence analysts on telecommunications, correctional probation, and private security, as well as grant funded training for Florida law enforcement officers in the area of traffic safety and alcohol offense enforcement. Dual enrollment programs with area high schools were also added.

In 2007, the Academy partnered with the Tallahassee Fire Department to establish the Tallahassee Fire Academy (TFA). The TFA provides state-approved training to those seeking employment as a firefighter in the state of Florida.  

Beginnings of the Florida Public Safety Institute

In 2009, the TCC District Board of Trustees, recognizing the growth at PTLEA and the changing nature of the programs offered. They approved the new name, Florida Public Safety Institute (FPSI), for the now almost 1,500 acre site in Gadsden County. The use of this "umbrella" name for the site permitted the PTLEA, as well as the other training academies located there, to coexist at a location that better described the range of professional programming offered. While the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy continued to offer cutting edge training to law enforcement, corrections, and correctional probation recruits and officers, the new branding allowed the FPSI to reach into new, broader areas of service to public safety organizations and individuals.

Also in 2009, FPSI began an expansion of its programming vision by focusing on growing continuing education efforts in three ways: (1) attracting more officers to FPSI's campus for training, (2) exporting training to other areas of the state and country, and (3) moving into distance learning to reach new target audiences. That October, with the opening of the FPSI's new 11,000-square foot conference center, the campus was host to the High Liability Trainers Conference. The conference attracted nearly 400 instructors throughout Florida, as well as Alabama and Georgia.

Support in Funding

Also in October, FPSI became the grant funded provider of training for Florida officers in the areas of DUI and traffic enforcement. The Institute created an on-site Grants Support Office to assist in the administration of over 30 federal grants in various areas of public safety.  

Chronology

Green Lodging

The Florida Green Lodging Program is a voluntary initiative of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that designates and recognizes lodging facilities that make a commitment to conserve and protect Florida’s natural resources.

The Florida Public Safety Housing, Inc. (PSAH) operates a 200-room housing facility at the Institute to provide on-site participant housing in support of the Institute's various training programs.  In an effort to hold down operating expenses while increasing the responsible management of public resources, the PSAH sought recognition as a "Green Lodging" facility from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Lead Management on Shoot Ranges

Several years ago the Institute implemented a series of strategies to assess the impact and manage the migration of lead from its existing shooting ranges.  These strategies were shaped after a careful review of geologic maps to assess drinking water sources, hydrologic maps to assess drainage patterns on and surrounding shooting ranges, soil maps to assess soil properties that affect the migration lead in the soil, wetland maps to determine any potential impact of lead into wetlands, and topographic maps to determine site elevations, drainage, and dissipation on the property.  This effort led to a series of steps to improve the existing drainage collection system, reduce surface water runoff velocity, and assess the lead parameters found in water runoff.  Today, the Institute monitors lead migration using three experimental ponds behind the earthen berms of its "dirty" ranges.  In addition, the Institute has implemented "clean" ranges where only lead-free, non-toxic ammunition is permitted for use by agency personnel using the ranges.

FPSI Lead-Free Letter

Lighting and Electronics Recycling and Disposal

The Florida Public Safety Institute has contracted with Veolia Environmental Services (Veolia ES) for the disposal of spent lighting and electronic equipment.  Veolia ES manages the recycling, disposal, and destruction of the Institute's industrial and consumer batteries, mercury containing lamps, and other lighting and equipment as required at its fully permitted processing facilities.