NOTABLE PENSING DEATH: COLLEGE OF THE MAINLAND'S POLICE ACADEMY

College of the Mainland to end 58-year-old police academy after training scandal

 

The Galveston County Daily News 

Apr 23, 2025

 

 

 

TEXAS CITY--  College of the Mainland next year will shut down a 58-year-old law enforcement academy that was rocked by scandal last year.

The decision, effective March 31, 2026, follows a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement decision not to pursue a new contract with the college for peace officer training after a current agreement expires, officials said in a written statement.

“TCOLE’s decision is disappointing, given COM’s longstanding relationship with the commission and the academy’s decades of service to the law enforcement community,” College of the Mainland President Warren Nichols said.

“Our Law Enforcement Academy has been a cornerstone of public safety training in our region, and we are proud of its legacy.”

 

 

College of the Mainland president Warren Nichols expressed disappointment in the commission's decision and said “Our Law Enforcement Academy has been a cornerstone of public safety training in our region, and we are proud of its legacy.”

A College of the Mainland police academy trainee is pictured during a shoot-don't-shoot exercise that uses a police situation simulator 

 

Established in 1967, the academy began offering basic peace officer training in 1970. Since then, it has graduated 1,605 cadets and provided 1,385 continuing education courses, serving more than 10,500 law enforcement professionals across the region, the college said.

The commission didn’t provide an explanation for its decision, the college said. The commissions’ media contact couldn’t immediately be reached Wednesday afternoon.

The academy, however, was rocked in late March 2024 when 19 Law Enforcement Academy graduates lost their peace officer licenses over claims they hadn’t received the minimum training required in a program marked by serious, systemic failures.

The claims arose about the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Academy, which the college managed, and didn’t implicate the academy run on the college’s Texas City campus, officials said at the time.

The commissions’ action came after a complaint that a former student didn’t receive training to required standards during a Basic Peace Office Course in Liberty County.

“Preliminary investigative findings corroborate that this BPOC was fundamentally inadequate in providing students with minimum state training requirements and course content, including a lack of lesson plans, learning objectives, course evaluations, enforcement of attendance and training from qualified instructors,” a letter from the commission to the college stated.

The complaint asserted a former student from the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Academy, which provides training to out-of-county agencies and is approved by the commission, did not complete the Basic Peace Officer Course necessary for a position as an entry-level police officer, constable, deputy sheriff or any other licensed peace officer position available in the state.

Liberty County’s academy was managed by College of the Mainland through a memorandum of understanding, a form of agreement that states each party’s actions within the partnership, officials said at the time.

Students who attended the course between January and November 2022 didn’t receive the proper training, causing their licenses to be revoked, regulators asserted.

“A training agreement affords an academy special trust and confidence to produce basically trained peace officers possessing the requisite technical, tactical and ethical competencies to serve and interact with the public,” the letter stated. “The Academy’s failures were serious and systemic.”

Training at the Liberty County academy was lacking and it was unclear what was being taught to students, Nichols said at the time.

“I say this from my perspective, College of the Mainland fell down on the job,” Nichols said. “It was our academy. It was under our management and supervision to oversee and make sure that it was being run appropriately. We trusted them to do it and we did not have constant verification of the academy.”

The college would continue operating the program through the end of its contract, officials said Wednesday.

The final daytime academy class would run from July to December 2025. The fall 2025 evening academy has been canceled, because it would extend beyond the March 31, 2026, contract expiration. Current academy cohorts will continue uninterrupted.

“COM views this transition as an opportunity to expand its Criminal Justice program,” the college said.

The college was collaborating with Texas four-year institutions to develop co-enrollment agreements, including a pathway for students to complete a bachelor of science degree in Criminal Justice entirely on the Texas City campus.