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The North Carolina Justice Academy announced that Marcus Daniel Ricks of the Rockingham Police Department recently completed the Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Certificate Program at the Academy.

The traffic Enforcement and Investigation Certificate Program is designed to recognize the achievement of law enforcement professionals who have dedicated themselves to making the highways safer for citizens. Officers, upon completion of the program, will have mastered several important aspects of traffic enforcement and related topics, thus achieving a high level of professionalism for themselves as well as their department.

Rockingham Police Chief Billy Kelly said Ricks was the 172nd person to receive the certification, and that the department was proud of him for his achievement.

“He’s done very well,” Kelly said. “He is truly an asset to the police department.”

The police chief said Ricks was the only officer enrolled in the Traffic Enforcement, but other officers at the Rockingham Police Department are involved in the Criminal Investigations program.

The Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Program requires participants to be sworn law enforcement officers of a law enforcement agency and have at least two years experience as a full-time officer. In addition, participants are required to have their agency’s head approval to participate in the program due to the time spent away from the agency in efforts to obtain the training needed to complete the program. The certificate program requires 500 hours of training with a focus on traffic enforcement and investigation. Core requirements for the program consist of the following courses: Introduction to Traffic Crash Investigation, At-Scene Traffic Crash Investigation, Drug Enforcement for Patrol Officers, Intoxilyzer 5000 Operator, RADAR, and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing.

The North Carolina Justice Academy, located in Salemburg and Edneyville, develops and conducts training courses for local and state law enforcement professionals. The Justice Academy provides training programs and technical assistance for law enforcement professionals through five centers of the Training Division: Investigations; Legal; Management; Commission/In-Service; and Tactical/Traffic.