The Department of Public Safety welcomed a new class of adult correctional officers at a graduation ceremony Friday at the Hawaii Okinawa Center in Waipahu.
Twenty-seven recruits from Basic Corrections Recruit Class 16-01 graduated from training and will begin their careers as correctional officers in facilities across the state.
Three of the graduates will be assigned to the Hawaii Community Correctional Center and one will serve at the Kulani Correctional Facility.
The nine-week BCRC course the men and women completed includes 360 hours of classroom time and physical training. Recruits learn standard of conduct, professionalism and ethics, report writing, interpersonal communications, maintaining security, crisis intervention, security threat groups (gangs), firearms, self-defense tactics and physical exercise.
“These individuals chose a unique and challenging career path,” Sgt. Dzuong Le, BCRC sergeant in charge, said at the ceremony. “The job of a corrections officer in a prison or jail is one of the toughest jobs anyone can do, but it can also be rewarding, too.
“As corrections officers, we are held to a higher standard. I know these men and women have what it takes to hold up that standard with professionalism, integrity and fairness.”
All incoming classes receive recruit field training along with basic corrections training. During the final weeks of training, they go into the facility and begin their job with the guidance of their training sergeants.
The remaining graduates will be assigned to the following centers/facilities:
• Oahu Community Correctional Center, seven.
• Maui Community Correctional Center, six.
• Women’s Community Correctional Center (Oahu), four.
• Halawa Correctional Facility, four.
• Waiawa Correctional Facility, two.
