17 Recruits Graduate into Maui Corrections Officer Division

Maui Basic Corrections Training Graduation, Nov. 7, 2014. Photo courtesy Toni Schwartz.

By Maui Now Staff

Seventeen recruits on Maui joined the ranks of the state Department of Public Safety today after taking their oaths during a Basic Corrections Training graduation at the Maui Beach Hotel in Kahului.

The new class of adult correctional officers will all be assigned to the Maui Community Correctional Center, said department spokesperson Toni Schwartz.

The new officers completed eight weeks of basic training, including 440 hours of physical and classroom training.

According to Schwartz, training focused on “standards of conduct, professionalism and ethics, report writing, interpersonal communications, maintaining security, crisis intervention, security threat groups, firearms, self-defense tactics, and physical exercise.”

Maui Basic Corrections Training Graduation, Nov. 7, 2014. Photo courtesy Toni Schwartz.

Basic Corrections Training officer in charge Lieutenant Dawn Clemente commented in a department press release announcement saying the class showed a great deal of dedication over the past 8 weeks.  “This isn’t an easy job. These new officers will have to be peacekeepers in the prisons and jails as well as counselors, mediators, role models, and above all else, professionals.”

Part of the final weeks of training including on site work under the guidance of a training sergeant.

Schwartz said this is the sixth class to graduate this year and the third class held on a neighbor island.