Veterans wanting to become police officers have new opportunity in Bradenton

The Bradenton Police Department is one of the few agencies in the area that offers veterans a chance to use their military benefits through the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs to get paid twice.

The program offers veterans who no longer are active stipends to receive on-the-job training. A police officer is considered to be in training for the entire 12 months of their training and ensuing probationary period. The partnership between BPD and FLVA means an officer can receive their regular salary as well as their stipend.

“It takes quite a bit of work to gain this status,” Bradenton Police Chief Melanie Bevan said. “We saw it as a great recruiting tool and want to make our agency attractive to military veterans. The mayor is a veteran himself and attracting veterans is a goal of his. That’s something that spans well before I was here. We are all competing for the same resources, and I thought this would put us a step ahead. So my message is: Veterans, please apply. We may have some extra benefits here that other agencies may not have.”

BPD became certified on Dec. 27 and for veterans already in their probationary period with the force, they are entitled to apply for back pay from FLVA from the time they started.

“It doesn’t cost us anything but legwork,” Bevan said. “And it puts more money into the pockets of these veterans who are becoming officers. The entry-level position of police officer isn’t the best paid, so if we can give theses officers who have served their country a little more help, then we are proud to be an agency that does that.”

Background Investigator Sterling Brentnell initiated the program. It took several months to get the accreditation, including on site inspection of the department and its training facilities by FLVA.

“Researching this program I found out we have been putting the cart before the horse,” Brentnell said. “This allows officers or civilian employees of the department to get continuously paid for serving our country. It’s a wonderful program and we’re glad to have it here in Bradenton.

Mayor Wayne Poston said any veteran brings something to the table, but even more so are those who served as military police or similar jobs.

“They are already at least halfway to fully trained,” Poston said. “This gives them a great jump start to get up to speed. It’s a really positive thing.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Veterans wanting to become police officers have new opportunity in Bradenton."