What Is CLEET?

The principal mandates of CLEET include providing basic peace officer certification; ensuring that all certified officers in the city, county and state levels have access to annual continuing education; maintaining a healthy number of reserve peace officers; and taking care of licensing of people working in the state's private security industry.

CLEET has a committee and four councils to oversee specific sections of the organization, particularly for drug and bomb dogs, private security, curriculum review and advisory purposes.

An executive director heads CLEET. Reporting to him/her are the assistant director of operations (who oversees the academic programs), the senior attorney (who is in charge of all of CLEET's legal affairs) and the associate director of administration (who heads the administrative duties).

CLEET runs the Collegiate Officer Program (COP), which provides the education and training needed to become a certified peace or police officer in the state of Oklahoma. You need at least a high school diploma or a GED for eligibility to enroll and complete the program, as well as a clean criminal record. Also, you should be at least 21 years of age prior to completion of basic certification training.

The COP has criminal law prerequisites, and classes are offered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. Skills training courses require 100 percent attendance, and First Aid courses require a minimum unit or course score of 80 percent. Before completion of the COP, you must pass an exam as cumulative of the program's course work with a minimum of 70 percent. After that, you must be hired at the city, county or state level before you receive your Oklahoma peace officer certification.

CLEET has the Law Enforcement Professionals' Certification Program to recognize people for achievement in the law enforcement field. The certifications are awarded to paid, full-time, sworn law enforcement officers who possess powers of arrest and who are employed by state or local government.

Even after you are employed as a peace officer, you also have to take continuing education courses. As a full-time, certified peace officer, you must complete a minimum of 25 hours of CLEET-accredited continuing law enforcement training. This includes a mandatory 2 hours on mental health issues per year. A few of the courses are available for private security guards and private investigators as well.