OHP Launches Academy For Current Officers, Sees Growing Interest From Officers In States With Vaccine Mandates

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol announces it’ll launch its first ever “bridge” academy.

The “bridge” academy is a fast-tracked version of OHP’s current trooper academy and is open to current law enforcement officers.

For some time, OHP has been experiencing an “imminent shortage” of troopers in the state of Oklahoma. The new academy could possibly help put a dent in that.

“The Oklahoma Highway Patrol numbers as far as troopers are down everywhere, statewide,” said Trooper Eric Foster. “We have a need for every county.”

Applicants must be current, full-time CLEET certified officers with at least two years of experience. They must be 21 to 45 years old in order to apply.

Instead of spending 20 weeks in the traditional cadet academy, those in the “bridge” academy will only spend 12 to 13 weeks training.

The bridge academy will begin April 21, 2022 and will be an abbreviated, standard OHP academy with a graduation date of July 8, 2022.

“It gives us a great opportunity to kind of think outside the box and offer deputies other municipal officers that are around the state and really around the country an opportunity to come and be a part of us if they wish to,” said Foster.

Since its announcement, OHP told News 9 it’s been fielding over a hundred phone calls from current officers in states were there is a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. There is no vaccine mandate in the state of Oklahoma.

OHP launched the “bridge” program as an effort to help fix the “imminent shortage” of troopers in the state of Oklahoma.

“Officers, if they choose not to take the vaccine, are afraid of not having a job there anymore,” said Foster. “In the state of Oklahoma, they are safe to come and work for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol as there is no vaccine mandate on that end.”

Cadets accepted into the "bridge" academy will receive a starting pay equal to a second-year trooper; more than $52,000.

Applications are being accepted from now until December 20, 2021.