(Picture Source: Madisonville Police Department/Facebook)
Four local law enforcement officers were part of a group of 16 graduates from across Kentucky who recently completed the basic training academy with the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training in Madisonville.
Caydon Bean, Steven Ealey, and Ethan Levill with the Madisonville Police Department, along with Ronald Black with the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office, were members of Class 564, the second class to graduate from the Western Kentucky Law Enforcement Training Facility in Madisonville.
In June, officials noted that 21 officers completed the inaugural basic training class in Western Kentucky. They said this marks the first time since mandatory basic training began in 1998 that Kentucky has offered training at two locations at once. The Department of Criminal Justice Training is conducting training in a facility provided by the Madisonville Police Department, while Team Kentucky builds a new $50 million multipurpose training center in Madisonville. Since the academy opened in February 2025, 37 officers have graduated from the Western Kentucky program.
Members of Class 564 completed over 800 hours of recruit-level instruction during their 20-week program. Their training covered a wide range of topics, including patrol procedures, physical fitness, vehicle operations, defensive tactics, criminal law, traffic and DUI enforcement, firearms, criminal investigations, cultural awareness, bias-related crimes, and tactical response to crisis situations.
