9 Months Training Leads to Certification For 6 VGCC Law Enforcement Students

“Conduct yourselves as though everything you do is being videotaped,” Henderson Police Chief Glen B. Allen advised the six graduates of the Vance-Granville Community College Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) class.

Allen was the principal speaker for the graduation ceremonies held May 30 for BLET Class 72.

This was an evening class that began on Sept. 10, 2001, and it took about nine months for the cadets to complete the 608 hours of classroom instruction, physical and practical training required to meet state standards. Passing the state exam and earning statewide certification were Kenneth E. Brantley of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Kevin G. Watt of the Rolesville Police Department, John Theodore Younts of the Creedmoor Police Department, Stephen C. Ellington and Barton E. Gantt of Henderson, and Jay Reindl of Creedmoor.

Chief Allen told the new officers that, as law enforcement officers, they are joining a subculture within a subculture. “Officers are unique,” Allen said. “They are people who run towards gunfire and into burning buildings when the natural inclination is to run away.”
“As an officer, you are given the authority to take away one of our most treasured gifts – our freedom,” he said.

“Why would a person want to take a job as a law officer?” Allen asked.

He answered his own question with some possible answers: to return a child to its mother, to return property or offer advice to an elderly person, and to get dangerous offenders out of the community.

Chief Allen praised the graduates for their dedication, working another job during the day while going to school at night. “Throughout this very difficult time you have kept focused on your goal, and now you’ve reached it,” he said.

Melvin Smith, BLET school director, gave awards for the top performances in the class. Kenneth Brantley was a double winner, taking the Academic Award for the highest grade average and the Top Gun Award for the highest scores with pistol and shotgun. John Younts earned the Physical Fitness Award.

Noting that the class started one day before the fateful terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, Class Leader Kevin Watt asked the officers, family members and friends attending the graduation to pause for a moment of silence in memory of the police officers and firefighters who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
In the photo above, graduates of Basic Law Enforcement Training Class 72 at Vance-Granville Community College gather for a class picture with their trainers prior to graduation May 30. From left to right are Melvin Smith, BLET school director, Jay Reindl, Barton E. Gantt, John T. Younts, Stephen C. Ellington, Kevin G. Watt, Kenneth E. Brantley, and Tony Pendergrass, VGCC law enforcement training coordinator.Text