New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced the graduation of 31 new Environmental Police Officers (EPOs) from the Staff Sgt. Robert H. Dietz DEP Police Academy in Kingston. The new EPOs will be immediately deployed joining the DEP Police force to protect the 2,000-square-mile city’s water supply system and will have the responsibility for safeguarding the watershed land and infrastructure in nine counties throughout the Catskills and lower Hudson Valley.
The Environmental Police Academy was launched in 2002 as the first-of-its-kind in the nation to provide training, experience and concentrated course work in advanced environmental stewardship and protection. The new graduates, who live in 16 different counties, have successfully completed a total of 31 weeks of instruction in which they underwent intense training in counterterrorism, environmental protection, police science, the use of firearms and defensive tactics. In addition, recruits completed courses in environmental conservation laws, land navigation, fish and wildlife, and watershed protection.
Brandon Wright of Delaware County was among the graduates.
