After layoff, factory worker trains to become police officer

His classmates call him Gramps or Grandpa.

Dorie Clark, at age 65, is the oldest trainee enrolled at the University of Missouri Extension Law Enforcement Training Institute since it opened 50 years ago, the oldest of 8,100 trainees in that time span.

Completing the LETI’s 600-hour  program provides a student with the minimum training requirements to be certified as a Missouri peace officer.

That’s Clark’s goal; he wants to be a police officer.

“He doesn’t seem to have much trouble keeping up with our 20-and 30-year olds,” Gary Maddox, the institute’s director, said.

Clark commutes from Eldon to Columbia for daily morning classes, which three times a week includes a physical training regimen that begins at 6 a.m. with a 1.5 mile run.

“They call me the old man, but they tell me to slow down when I set the pace during those runs,” he said. “It makes me feel good. They don’t cut me any slack, and I am enjoying every minute of it.”

Clark is 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 190 pounds. He came to peace officer training after being laid off in September from his job as a welder and assembly line worker at Fasco Industries in Eldon.

He brings some limited law enforcement experience to his new training. He served as a deputy jailer for two years in Macon in the late 1980s and a brief time as a reserve officer in 1992 in another small town in Missouri, Wellsville.

Certification requirements then called for 120 hours of training, compared to the current 600 hours.

“The law enforcement training is a lot better today than it was back then,” he said. If he successfully completes training, Clark said he plans to accept a position as a police officer at Lincoln University and likely will be the oldest officer on the force, including its chief.

LETI conducts three 15-week training programs a year. Each class has about 30 students. Maddox estimates that about 10 percent of the state’s current peace officers received the training.

The program includes legal studies, interpersonal perspectives such as dealing with domestic violence or child neglect, understanding cultural diversity, ethics and stress management.

Technical studies include jail population management, criminal investigation, juvenile justice and training as a First Responder. Skills development includes defensive tactics, firearms and driver training.