Houston County sheriff explains training required for new deputies

After completing the state academy, Houston County recruits spend more than 12 weeks in field training before they may patrol alone.

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Houston County deputy recruits now complete nearly twice as much state-required academy training as recruits did under Georgia’s previous curriculum.

The Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council approved the expanded Basic Law Enforcement Training Course in June 2024. A September 2025 Georgia POST update says the expansion increased the course from 408 to 809 hours after 15 years without a major curriculum update.

Houston County Sheriff Matt Moulton says his office then requires recruits to complete more than 12 weeks of field training before they may patrol on their own.

“When I went through the academy [in] 2000, we were required to get 408 hours of training for peace officer certification,” he said. “It was about 10 weeks of training.”

A 2025 Georgia Senate Research Office Report found that Georgia required the second-fewest basic-training hours in the country at the time.

Moulton described the expanded curriculum.

“So, they add curriculum to it, they expanded on a lot of what we were already training,” he said. “Like firearms, driving emergency vehicles operations, they expanded those classes, added more training time for that, and have gotten it up, just over 800 hours of training now.”

The expanded academy combines classroom instruction with practical training.

“A lot of it is practical hands on,” Moulton said. “We talk about defensive tactics training, hand cuffing procedures, firearm use of force, professionalism and ethics is a big topic in law enforcement. De-escalation, they go through alert training, which is an active shooter training scenarios they do.”

Although the process takes longer, Moulton believes the additional training will strengthen law enforcement and improve safety in Houston County.

“It’s going to help raise the professionalism level in Houston County,” he said. “Especially dealing with the de-escalation techniques we use now, being able to talk people down off that ledge, instead of escalating the situations that often times lead to greater force use. I think it’s just going to make us well-rounded police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and as a result it’s going to make a safer community.”

Moulton says the sheriff’s office recently hired two deputies and is looking to hire more.