Gov. Andy Beshear announced that 17 dispatchers from across Kentucky graduated from the Department of Criminal Justice Training's Public Safety Dispatch Academy, according to a release from the Kentucky Justice & Public Safety Cabinet. The graduates of Class 172 are now ready to answer emergency and nonemergency calls for service across the commonwealth.

"Today you begin a noble career with an impact that will be felt by all you help in their time of need," Beshear said in a statement. "All of Team Kentucky thanks you for answering the call to serve and wishes you the best in your careers."

Dispatch basic training is mandatory for any sworn or civilian employee who will dispatch law enforcement officers by radio at a Criminal Justice Information Systems agency. Over four weeks, the graduates received 164 hours of instruction covering the role and responsibilities of dispatchers, proper phone and radio procedures, emergency and nonemergency call handling, emergency medical dispatch protocols and use of state and national criminal databases.

The graduates come from agencies including Campbell County Dispatch, Blue Grass Airport Police Department, and Oak Grove Police Department, among others. DOCJT provides basic training for city and county police officers, sheriffs' deputies, university police and airport police throughout the state, excluding Louisville Metro Police Department, Lexington Police Department, Bowling Green Police Department, Owensboro Police Department and Kentucky State Police, which maintain independent academies.

The training facility is located in Richmond, where the commonwealth operates its primary law enforcement academy. For the first time since basic training became mandatory in 1998, Kentucky is simultaneously offering training in two locations, with a new Western Kentucky Law Enforcement Training Facility in Madisonville now accepting students. The $50 million Madisonville facility is still under construction, with the recently passed 2026-2028 state budget allocating $13.1 million to construct a driving track at the new campus.