{"id":5870,"date":"2024-04-10T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T08:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=5870"},"modified":"2025-10-23T15:33:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:33:43","slug":"the-first-state-run-animal-control-officers-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/10\/the-first-state-run-animal-control-officers-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"The\u00a0First\u00a0State-Run Animal Control Officers Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column5870_cae911-9d > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column5870_cae911-9d dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p>The CJI, in partnership with Delaware Animal Services, created the&nbsp;nation\u2019s&nbsp;first&nbsp;state-run Animal Control Officers Academy. In October, a graduation ceremony celebrating the newly minted animal control officers was attended by luminaries such as State Sen. <strong>Stephanie L. Hansen,<\/strong> Delaware Animal Services personnel, including <strong>Chief Mark Tobin<\/strong> and Executive Director Christina Motoyoshi, Delaware Department of Agriculture State Veterinarian <strong>Dr. Karen Lopez<\/strong>, State of Delaware Captain and Investigator <strong>Rebecca Stratton<\/strong>, and members of the Brandywine SPCA. The ceremony was led by CJI Consultant and former New Castle County Police Captain <strong>Mike Terranova<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the 110-hour (or three-week) course, officers earned five certifications, including handcuffing techniques, Law Enforcement Information Sharing Service (LEISS);&nbsp;Armament Systems and Procedures (ASP, better known as batons),&nbsp;pepper spray, and taser.&nbsp;Trainees were also educated on animal cruelty, arrest, search and seizure laws, rabies protocol, and&nbsp;de-escalation techniques for special populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Animal-Control-Officers-Academy-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5872\" style=\"width:562px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Animal-Control-Officers-Academy-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Animal-Control-Officers-Academy-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Animal-Control-Officers-Academy-720x480.jpg 720w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Animal-Control-Officers-Academy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Animal-Control-Officers-Academy-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-Animal-Control-Officers-Academy-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br><em>Newly minted animal control officers. From left: Devaroo Shelton, Marissa Hoyes, Grace Bentley, Justin Madden, Payton Hadley, Clement Barnwell, Trey Thompson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Instructors included several highly&nbsp;regarded state and county police, as well as Tobin, a nationally certified K9 instructor and former master corporal of the New Castle County Police K9 Unit. The WilmU alumnus also founded a K9 Police Academy via a partnership with Delaware Technical Community College and supervised over 36 units in the Mid-Atlantic area.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWorking with Wilmington University and the CJI has helped build a foundation for the state of Delaware and the service we provide to its residents,\u201d says Tobin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014Maria Hess<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CJI, in partnership with Delaware Animal Services, created the&nbsp;nation\u2019s&nbsp;first&nbsp;state-run Animal Control Officers Academy. In October, a graduation ceremony celebrating the newly minted animal control&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[238,1058,239,240,57,14,15],"class_list":["post-5870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-animal-control-officers-academy-2","tag-center-law-justice-society-2","tag-cji","tag-criminal-justice-institute","tag-magazine-spring-2024","tag-wilmington-university","tag-wilmu"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":238,"label":"Animal Control Officers Academy."},{"value":1058,"label":"center-law-justice-society-2"},{"value":239,"label":"CJI"},{"value":240,"label":"Criminal Justice Institute"},{"value":57,"label":"Magazine Spring 2024"},{"value":14,"label":"Wilmington University"},{"value":15,"label":"WilmU"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wilmington-University-CJI-480x480.jpg",480,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Mckayla Imperatrice","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/mckayla\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":238,"name":"Animal Control Officers Academy.","slug":"animal-control-officers-academy-2","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":795,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1058,"name":"center-law-justice-society-2","slug":"center-law-justice-society-2","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1615,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":239,"name":"CJI","slug":"cji","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":796,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":240,"name":"Criminal Justice Institute","slug":"criminal-justice-institute","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":797,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":12,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":57,"name":"Magazine Spring 2024","slug":"magazine-spring-2024","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":614,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":22,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":14,"name":"Wilmington University","slug":"wilmington-university","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":571,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":357,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15,"name":"WilmU","slug":"wilmu","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":572,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":291,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5870"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18745,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870\/revisions\/18745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}