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Training Unit

Lt Lanier Message from Major Horace Lanier: The Vanderbilt University Police Department Training Unit is charged with the training of all VUPD sworn and non sworn personnel. The Training Unit’s responsibilities include the orientation of new Police, Communications and Community Service Officers. We also develop and instruct the curriculum for our yearly in-service, which is required through the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission for our Police Officers to maintain their certifications with the State of Tennessee. We complete this style of training with our Community Service Officers as well, even though it is not required. We do this to ensure that we are placing only well-trained individuals into our community to assist Vanderbilt and its visitors. We are the department liaison with the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to ensure that our Police Officer Trainees are completing a State of Tennessee approved Police Academy with satisfactory performances in all levels of their training. It is our mission to ensure that the Vanderbilt community is being served by the highest trained personnel that we can provide.

Please feel free to email me if you would like to know more about the VUPD Training Unit: Horace Lanier

Tennessee Code 38-8-106 - Qualifications of Police Officers

Any person employed as a full-time police officer, and any person employed or utilized as a part-time, temporary, reserve or auxiliary police officer or as a special deputy, shall:

  • (1) Be at least eighteen (18) years of age;
  • (2) Be a citizen of the United States;
  • (3) Be a high school graduate or possess its equivalent, which shall include a general educational development (GED(R)) certificate;
  • (4) Not have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to or entered a plea of nolo contendere to any felony charge or to any violation of any federal or state laws or city ordinances relating to force, violence, theft, dishonesty, gambling, liquor, controlled substances or controlled substance analogues;
  • (5) Not have been released or discharged under any other than honorable discharge from any of the armed forces of the United States;
  • (6) Have the person's fingerprints on file with the Tennessee bureau of investigation;
  • (7) Have passed a physical examination by a licensed physician or a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, so long as the task is expressly included in the written protocol developed jointly by the supervising physician and the nurse practitioner or physician assistant, whichever is applicable, setting forth the range of services that may be performed by the nurse practitioner or physician assistant;
  • (8) Have a good moral character as determined by a thorough investigation conducted by the employing agency; and
  • (9) Be free of all apparent mental disorders as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition (DSM-III) of the American Psychiatric Association. An applicant must be certified as meeting these criteria by a qualified professional in the psychiatric or psychological field. For further information click on the following link: http://www.tn.gov/commerce/let/index.shtml