Southwest Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

What a great opportunity for training our law enforcement executives at Breaks Interstate Park. This week the Southwest Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy held our annual Executive Retreat sponsored by Command Presence Training. This retreat brought together 79 law enforcement leaders and partners from across Southwest Virginia.

The retreat provided an opportunity to step away from the day-to-day demands of our profession and focus on leadership, relationships, challenges facing law enforcement, and the future of criminal justice training in our region.

We are grateful to everyone who took the time to attend and participate. The strength of the Academy has always been the agencies and people we serve, and opportunities like this allow us to continue building the relationships necessary to meet the challenges ahead.

Thanks again to Command Presence Training for sponsoring this event, Breaks Interstate Park for hosting us, and to all of the attendees who helped make this year’s Executive Retreat a success.

We look forward to continuing the conversations, strengthening partnerships, and working together to serve the law enforcement agencies and communities of Southwest Virginia.

09/03/2026

Today we had the privilege of celebrating the graduation of the 129th Law Enforcement Basic Class.

These officers have spent the last several months learning the skills, knowledge and discipline required to begin a career in law enforcement. They have worked hard, been challenged, probably been frustrated a time or two, and hopefully learned a few things they didn’t know when they started.

Congratulations to our award recipients:

Class President: Deputy Peery, Washington County Sheriff's Office

Academic Award: Deputy Mullins, Dickenson County Sheriffs Office

Hunter Reedy Marksmanship Award: Officer Thomas Norton Police Department

Driving Award: Officer Thomas Norton, Norton Police Department

Servant Leader Award: Deputy Mullins, Dickenson County Sheriff’s Office

Michael Chandler Award: Hunter Nichols, Abingdon, Virginia Police Department

Physical Fitness Award: Deputy Booher, Washington County Sheriff’s Office

A special thank you to Highlands Fellowship for opening your doors and allowing us to celebrate this class with their families, friends and fellow officers.

We also want to recognize the instructors who gave their time to this class. Some of you gave a lot of time. You shared your knowledge, experience and, in many cases, some hard-earned lessons that can’t be found in a slide deck.

Thank you to the member agencies who provided instructors and supported the academy. We couldn’t do this without you.

To the families; the real stars in our lives, thank you. You have supported these officers through the long days, late nights, studying, training and everything else that comes with putting someone you love into this profession. You are part of this graduation too.

To the graduates, enjoy today. You’ve earned it. Too soon, it will be time for you go to work.

Remember that the badge is not about you. It’s about the people you serve. Some days they will thank you. Some days they won’t. Some days you’ll go home knowing you made a difference. Other days you’ll wonder if you did.

Do your job. Take care of people. Take care of each other. Keep learning. Stay humble. And never forget why you decided to do this in the first place.

Congratulations, Class 129. Go make us proud.

As one of television’s greatest police sergeants used to say:

“Be careful out there.”

130 - get ready…